


Fanning The Flames

by KingAlanI



Series: Gale's Hunger Games [2]
Category: Hunger Games (2012), Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-01
Updated: 2013-08-25
Packaged: 2017-11-28 17:29:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 37,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/677007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KingAlanI/pseuds/KingAlanI
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>By Alan Gilfoy in the world of Suzanne Collins. After saving their siblings from the Reaping, Gale and Katniss are winning the Games together. The sequel to Gale's Hunger Games from Gale's perspective. Includes a minor Rory/Prim aspect.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lay Down Your Arms

I had the bow drawn on Glimmer when we saw Cato charge, sword drawn of course. Then he saw Glimmer’s imminent death and angrily thrust his sword into the ground. _What the fuck is going on here?_ “I can’t do this anymore,” he screamed in a voice full of raw energy.

I figured I’d take advantage of the situation and re-aimed the bow at Cato. “I got this,” I called to Katniss.

I had expected Catnip to throw some knives back at Glimmer, but instead she stood up with one of those knives in her hand resting at her hip. “Hold your fire.” I could tell she knew what she was doing.

            I wasn’t sure about Cato. _Might as well go ahead and ask_ , I thought as I said “What’s your game, Two?” in his direction.

            “I finally love someone and I’m not gonna watch her die! Where’s the honor, glory and pride in this? Fuck it!” _A career district rebel!?!?_ I raised the District Twelve respect sign. He probably didn’t understand it, but other people would, and I hope he understood the apparent truce of taking my hand away from my weapon. Katniss quickly followed me in making the gesture. Cato and Glimmer imitated it imperfectly, but well enough.

            As Glimmer’s hand went up, she added “You’re right. The people we care about are more important than the Capitol’s usual order of business.” _I appreciate rebelliousness as much as anyone, but the Capitol is going to drop the hammer on those people. The Hawthornes and Everdeens knew how to get into the woods and I hope they had the good sense to, but I obviously wouldn’t know if there’s anywhere to hide near One and Two._

Cato continued talking with “Though I saw it all around, I never thought I could be affected – it’s so strange the way things turn. I kept on seeing myself as one of the few to live, not thinking about the many to die whether or not I was amongst them.”

 

Maybe the Capitol couldn’t contain rebellion this time. The Capitol would have moved quickly to censor such talk, but I wondered how much of it had slipped into the broadcast. I couldn’t be the only person fed up with living under Snow. Katniss’ mourning and Cato’s love-fueled rage could be what it takes to finally make the country boil over. I sensed that the audience was already put off by the doomed lover and perhaps doomed mother scenario; twenty-three deaths a year hadn’t fazed them, but people are odd, especially Capitol people.

 

_I gave Snow, Crane and the other evil bastards credit for making the two-victor offer. I hoped to outplay them, and I figure Haymitch thought the same. I doubt The Capitol had expected such maneuvering from Cato and Glimmer._

 

The Gamemakers unleashed several muttations that resembled wolves. Apparently they hoped they could take care of us with the arena itself. The mutts started galloping towards us. I handed the bow and arrows back to Katniss. “Glim, get your machete!,” Cato shouted as he retrieved his sword.

            “So you have a pet name for your new girl?,” Katniss inquired.

            “Lustre thought of it first. Yeah, Everdeen, she has a younger sister too, you know,” he replied with equal sarcasm.

            Catnip countered Cato’s apparent hypocrisy or lack of repentance. “So did Rue and Thresh, and so does Gale.” _The Games were all about dividing the districts, so The Capitol would probably be glad to broadcast this exchange._

            “So did Clove too,” Cato shot back. “Flavia Hawkins, I wish we hadn’t thought that was necessary.” _I could almost feel the Capitol broadcasters cutting us off again. Cato was going for broke. He was now saying what I had always wanted to say, so I was only too glad to join him._

 

During the conversation, Glimmer and Katniss had been gathering the throwing knives to hand to me. I kept my mace and the knife I already had in reserve. Cato had a few big spears that he was also holding onto for now. I glanced at his pile of weapons and couldn’t resist the sarcastic comment “Are you compensating for something?”

Cato muttered “Wanna know what happened to the last guy who said that?”. _With him, the anger was no idle threat._

            Glimmer also answered, yelling back with a very enthusiastic “Oh no, no problems there!” _Well, she would know._

            I corrected myself with “Okay, nevermind that. Let’s get back to business. Let’s get on the horn.”

 

We started running towards the Cornucopia. Cato and Glimmer hacked at a few of the mutts, but myself and Katniss didn’t try getting shots in while moving at full speed, especially with the risk of hitting our newfound allies. I was able to stun a few of the mutts with my mace.

 

However, they were drawing closer. The bared fangs glistened in the early morning light. My still very sore arm was viciously wounded again. Glimmer cut its legs out from it. It was the first of the creatures to die. I stared into its eyes, which I found even more disturbing than the fangs. I couldn’t quite place it.

 

Katniss was leading the race, bow moving rhythmically in her left hand, as would be expected of the runner who won the race for the arena’s only archery equipment in the first place. She got to the Cornucopia first and shimmied up it as easily as expected, her climbing complementing her running.

 

From her newfound vantage point, she began to take shots at the mutts. Cato was furthest away from the Cornucopia, so the pack was converging on him. It took the combination of a well placed arrow and sword strike to bring down just one of them. Cato yanked the arrow loose and jammed it in his otherwise empty scabbard. Glimmer hacked at another, distracting it just long enough for her to make it to the Cornucopia. I wasn’t too far behind her. I could handle climbing something sturdy like this arena centerpiece just fine, and I looked down to see Glimmer continuing to have trouble. Katniss seemed to be ignoring her in favor of teaming up with Cato on another mutt. I lent Glimmer my relatively non-wounded arm and we pulled her up, her leg just inches away from the jaws of an angry mutt.

 

While catching my breath on top of the Cornucopia, I counted the mutts. Seventeen plus the three dead equals twenty. That was the number of dead tributes. I realized it was no coincidence. The mutts’ eyes were so unsettling because they resembled those of the fallen. I made eye contact with the smallest of the creatures. Its eyes were golden-brown and the hair was a darker brown. Rue. Its collar even imitated her token. _The Gamemakers had managed to sink to an even further level of depravity._ “The mutts are imitating the dead tributes!,” I called out matter-of-factly. I would have held my tongue, but Cato had already loosed his, so I added “Is killing them once not enough for you, Gamemakers!?”

 

_They must be having a rather difficult time trying to spin this. Were they presenting the four of us as having made a temporary truce? I doubted that; Cato seemed spontaneous but serious._

 

I knifed that small wolf to spare Katniss the trouble of killing even this twisted reincarnation of her little flower. Cato and Glimmer looked like they had made the same grim realization I had. The next mutt facing Cato was a small black one and he was not spared the torture of killing Clove again. He reached the horn shortly after removing his sword. He scrambled up the side without my help. He bowed slightly to hand some retrieved arrows to Katniss. “Your weapons m’lady on fire,” he said with mock seriousness. I glanced at Katniss’ quiver as she put them back. It looked like she had nearly all of her ten post-bloodbath arrows left.

After Katniss gave a crisp thank-you, I had a question for him. “Okay, Cato, you wanted to create a diversion to save Glimmer, but why this one?”

“I wanted to make sure to get your attention,” he said quite confidently.

Glimmer elaborated for Cato. “I could tell just how unhappy you were to be here. I wondered why we lacked that reasonable fear. Then I realized it was about more than just being scared – you hadn’t fallen for the Capitol’s lies as we had. We’re all just pawns in their game. I started dreaming of revolution looking at my machete. Cato got the message. I am a positive influence on him, after all.”

 

 _I was fast gaining an understanding and appreciation of both of them. Katniss might be a different story, since that woman does not forgive and forget easily, especially after trauma like Rue’s death._ _Glimmer had only recently discovered the rebelliousness that I had known my whole life, but she was rather more eloquent about it. Rebellions needed that in addition to fighters._

 

I felt compelled to try and match her speech. We were surely done for, and I wanted to go out with a bang, at least serving a greater purpose. “Always remember this – we did exactly the right thing there. Enough is enough! Down with the Capitol! Down with rulers who torture us and send us to our deaths for their amusement!” _Now what did the Capitol have in store for us besides arena hazards?_


	2. Exodus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An established rebel movement supports the tributes’ act of defiance and the four grow closer.

Arm And Arm We Fight As One

.

We stood together on top of the Cornucopia. Katniss and I were in the center, with Cato on her right and Glimmer on my right. It made sense, for melee weapon users to help shield those bearing ranged weapons. With our teamwork and the high ground, we were beginning to make quick work of the mutts. Cato threw a few spears and couched the last underhand and was using it as a lance. Katniss was becoming similarly depleted on arrows. I was running out of knives, but would never throw the one we had toasted with.

.

There were a few of the creatures left when we saw a hovercraft overhead. A claw dropped, to pick us up as if we were dead. I suppose we might as well be. It started on Cato’s side of the line and went in order. As I was pulled in, I saw nothing of Cato or Katniss. I saw the fat assistant Gamemaker. _So Snow and Crane can’t even do their own dirty work._ I drew my knife at the sight of the Peacekeepers flanking him. I couldn’t fight them, but could at least save myself from more torture or deny the Capitol the spectacle of a public execution. Haymitch came running from another room. “Hold it! Plutarch Heavensbee here is an undercover rebel!” I was left speechless, but I trusted him because he had every reason to hate the Capitol as much as I did.

Still in shock, I got something out somewhat audibly. “Assistant Gamemaker. Pretty high up. You running this show?”

He answered in the negative. “I report to Alma Coin, the president of District Thirteen.” Already dumbfounded, the mention of the destroyed district silenced me again. “It’s very real. ‘Destroying’ it was a ruse that is about to backfire on the Capitol horribly.”

“It’s time the scum got what was coming to them,” I said, now able to match his fervor with my usual rage.

A woman with silver stars tattooed on her cheek interrupted us with “We’ve got shiny.”

I countered, imitating her nicknaming scheme. “Where’s fire?”

Plutarch answered for his assistant. “All four are on board, now let’s get out of here!” I felt the craft lurch as the pilot acknowledged that instruction. Several people, myself included, grabbed onto the wall.

“Now where are our families?,” I said impatiently. “We did this for them, not to have it blow up in their faces.”

That was covered, thankfully. “Another hovercraft should be getting them, but we’re both under strict radio silence.” _Well, they had been worrying about me for weeks, now it was my time to worry about them._

.

Haymitch spoke to myself and Katniss. “Twenty-three years of mentoring losing tributes would have driven me to drink even if my friends and family were still here. Finally I get to see not only one but two go home. I thought that was about all I could ask for at this point, and now we’re about to see the Capitol fall. That’s what I really wanted from what was left of my miserable life.”

“Katniss heard it over and over again the woods, my rage against their injustice…”

“That I did!,” she interjected.

“I never believed I’d have such an opportunity to act on that rage,” I said in a measured tone of voice.

“And act we will!” Haymitch said hopefully. “Act on plans that have been forming for a long time.”

I interrupted him to say “Why did we not know about this?!”

Haymitch actually had a good explanation. “We feared it would prompt you to do something rash and premature. We hadn’t expected such behavior out of Cato Adams. Now we’re playing the hand we’ve been dealt. As it was, your natural reactions were perfect.” He continued with “We campaigned for Crane to allow two victors this time. Fortunately, he had enough of a heart to see the light. Either that or he at least saw the audience appeal.”

“So Crane was in on this too?,” I asked.

“No, he just got outmaneuvered. Cinna has always been on our side.” Katniss cheered at the mention of his name. “He made it out of the Capitol with us, and brought his prep team with him. Cato and Glimmer’s mentors are recent converts. Brutus, he’s a real piece of work. You can see where Cato gets it from. Cashmere also had a tribute take after her. They helped me make the case for two victors, but they were simply working for their own tributes’ sake at that point. Cashmere easily convinced her older brother Gloss to follow her, as usual. We also evacuated some other mentors, and that’s it for the occupants of this hovercraft.”

.

Haymitch pointed us to our area of the hovercraft while he went back with the other mentors. During the short walk, Katniss said to me “Mom will find our relationship very sudden.”

I had a simple and sharp answer. “Catnip. You’re coming back alive; she won’t care.” _Also, Ingrid knew what it’s like to catch hell for choice of mate, and she wouldn’t dare dish that out_.

“You have a point, and you did help bring me back,” she acknowledged.

“And _you_ helped bring _me_ back,” I admitted. “The two of us moving as one, as it’s constantly been for the past four years.”

Cato and Glimmer were headed in the same direction. “That’s the first time I’ve seen him smile,” Katniss observed. “ _I_ only smile when I’m with _you_ ,” she managed to say. “So I understand, but I still don’t like her,” she finished.

.

            I heard a clear yet unfamiliar voice over the intercom. “Mockingbird and Jabberjay have landed.”

            “Must be Mockingjay’s family,” Glimmer decoded. Glimmer was getting along with Katniss better than Katniss was getting along with Glimmer. “I figure she would have gotten the Hawthornes while there.”

“I can’t believe Prim and I get to see each other again!,” Katniss shouted.

            “Good!,” I barked a bit more rudely than I should have. “Now who’s this ‘she’?”

            “Lyme, Brutus’ fellow District Two victor. He figured she was involved.” Glimmer turned to Cato to say “Lyme would have gotten Teresa before she left. Yes, big bad Cato still gets to see his mommy,” Glimmer teased. _Glimmer was probably the only one who could get away with saying that._

.

A Modest Proposal

 

            We were still barreling towards District Thirteen when Cato unclipped his restraints to go kneel in front of Glimmer. She was jumping with joy (as much as the restraints allowed) in anticipation of the obvious. He grasped one of her hands with both of his and said “Glimmer Rose Shinesmith, will you marry me?” _Well, he got right to the point._

            “Yes!,” Glimmer screamed. “I’ve been thinking about that since The Announcement.”

            “So have I. Most girls didn’t even make a nighttime impression on me. You quickly made a lifetime impression on me, so I want to spend the rest of our lives together. I simply intended to say it at our victor interview with all the fancy stuff going on.”

“I heard it from you – that’s what matters,” Glimmer answered, still floating on air. _So at worst she was a starry-eyed romantic instead of an airhead. Good._

I congratulated them with “Welcome to the getting married very young club. May the odds be ever in our favor.”

Katniss gripped my hand as Cato continued to talk to Glimmer. “I saw right away how gorgeous you are, but the effect you had on me, cracking my shell, that’s what’s really beautiful.”

Catnip whispered something sarcastic to me. “Right now, he could be teaching Prim a thing or two about producing cheese.”

The moments were interrupted by a general announcement. “Everybody sit down - we’re about to land.”

 

Welcome Home – Sort Of

 

            Lyme had indeed evacuated and rescued our families. “Snow and his ilk have no qualms attacking the families of their enemies. I went into action and managed to get all of them out safely. You can all meet them shortly. Adams, I’m very pleasantly surprised with you. The better part of valor is discretion, and you finally saw the light.”

.          

            As Cato hugged his mother, she said, “Since when did you learn to show emotion?”

            “Since I met the person that is soon to be your daughter-in-law,” Cato answered with a smirk.

            “You staying with one woman? Eighteen days already breaks your record. May the odds be ever in her favor,” Teresa joked.

            “With this one that won’t be a problem,” Cato said in a tone that was especially confident even for him.

            “Well, she definitely had a major positive influence on you, and I love it,” Teresa admitted.

Ingrid was the only other person who had gathered with Teresa so far. “Mrs. Adams?,” Mrs. Everdeen asked plaintively.

            “It’s Ms. Anthony - he died before we could marry,” she admitted, the sadness palpable.

            Ingrid identified with this immediately, and had an aside for me and Katniss. “Katniss, Gale, that was beautiful. You know much of the district had wondered if there was something romantic between you two.”

            Katniss explained to her mother with “There really wasn’t. Until the train. And six days later, he’s whispering ‘bride’ to me as I go to sleep.”

            “I knew you heard that, since you whispered ‘husband’ to me in the morning,” I said while beaming a grin. “Well, Haymitch gave us a hint, and we took it,” I added.

            “Hazelle and I nearly broke down in tears, being so reminded of our marriages to your fathers,” Ingrid admitted. “I haven’t seen a man look at a woman like that since my Jacob. Welcome to the family. May you have many decades of feeling like that,” she added.

            “Wow. Thank you” was about all I could say to that.

.

Ingrid turned back to Teresa. “We were approaching our twentieth anniversary, but I still know what it’s like to lose the father of my children. Five years and I still miss Jacob’s love tremendously. I gave up everything for him, and suddenly I had nothing except our two wonderful daughters.” _Who you abandoned to the depths of your depression._

            Teresa said she had been through it for longer. “Nineteen years and I still haven’t forgotten Julius one bit.” At this point they hugged each other.

            “I couldn’t think of anyone else, and I couldn’t subject myself to that again,” Ingrid said.

            Teresa had slightly different thoughts on the matter, but with the same result. “I tried, but most guys my age from District Two are off with the Peacekeepers.”

.          

            Then Ingrid turned to Glimmer. “Miss Shinesmith, I wondered if I was crazy going to a different part of the same district for the right man; I think you’re the first to go to an entirely different district.”

            “You can call me Mrs. Adams soon.” Glimmer said looking quite pleased with herself.

            Ingrid responded with a simple “Congratulations”.

.

            Glimmer’s father got in Cato’s face. It was kind of funny watching anyone (especially him) try to intimidate Cato, but Sunstone Shinesmith played his part anyway. “You better take care of my daughter, especially after doing that to her.”

            “Don’t worry, we even got engaged on the flight over here.” _That truth is exactly what he wanted to hear._

            “Attaboy,” Sunstone said laconically.

            “Even without your future grandchild involved, why would I want to be with anyone besides your gem of a daughter?” _You’re smart enough, Adams._ “We’re both people who get what we want, and we want each other bad.” _Tell him!_

            “Well, you did help my girl make it out of the arena, and you do seem exactly like the kind of guy she always wanted, whatever I think of that type.” _That’s about as much as he was going to come around, at least publicly._

            Ingrid butted in with “I hope you weren’t seriously thinking of objecting. I was shunned over my choice of husband, which damn near wrecked me.”

.

            While I was waiting for my family to show up, Cato started talking to me alone. “Hawthorne, I’m surprised this is my first kid.”

            I knew exactly what he meant. “During my ladykiller phase, I was too young to be fuckin’ ‘em – a lot of kissing going on at school though. Then I grew closer to Katniss and waited for her to be ready. Seems Glimmer fell for you a lot quicker.”

            Cato agreed with “The feeling was mutual … can you blame us?”

            “No, I can’t. Congratulations on finding such a pretty girl who isn’t an idiot,” I offered.

            “Glim kinda feels the same way, ‘strong but not stupid’ she says. We had dreamed of the Games, but I never dreamed of such a torrid romance to go with it,” Cato said happily.

            “Watching your kind kill Rory with smiles on your faces would have been a nightmare. And one thing’s for sure, a life of violating Capitol law ensures you’re no coward,” I said in a steadily rising tone of voice.

            Cato admitted that “Career training gave me a bravery that almost seems foolish and reckless now. Yet I had shut out my mother, Clove, other classmates, anyone who I could have loved at all in any way. Then Glimmer showed up. I thought I had just another way to get my rocks off. Wrong! We sure got each other off, but she cracked my shell – I finally loved someone. I knew she was powerful. I knew for sure when the arena couldn’t dampen our little affair, even before The Announcement.”

            _Well, I of all people would know what he’s talking about._ “I’d say it’s _because_ of the arena. Katniss and I have so many things in common, and sharing this situation as well brought us even closer. We’d been pretty much everything but lovers, and finally making that next step was the one thing that could dull the pain. I’ve seen how Haymitch ‘handles it’, and I’ll take Katniss’ mouth over the mouth of a liquor bottle any day.”

            Cato winked as he said “Yeah, I’d rather fuck than drink. Several times, mind you, both before and after the Games started.”

            _Glimmer found out the hard way that Katniss hated girl talk. However, I thought guy talk was swell._ I answered with “We spent the night before the Games together, just that. We were tempted while in the arena, but we knew better”.

            Evidently Katniss and Glimmer both rather liked it when we went down on them. “We did actually get some sleep, after best evening workouts I’ve ever had,” Cato joked.

I turned the conversation sober-minded. “I was born when Ma wasn’t much older than Glimmer is now. My sister was born shortly after Dad died in the mines. I’m the closest thing to a father Posy will ever know,” I said.

Speaking of which, the little girl came bounding into the room and Cato correctly identified her. “I heard you’re Posy.”

            “Yes, I’m this many,” she said holding up four fingers.

            “I’d need more hands for that. But I never knew my daddy either. I heard a lot of great things about him too,” Cato answered cheerfully. _And you nearly ended up exactly like him._

“I have great big brothers though – wow, you’re even bigger than Gale,” Posy said eagerly. _Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Glimmer smirking. Anyway, it’s good that Cato’s getting along with Posy._

.

After the obligatory greetings, I asked “So, Ma, what’s the big news from home?”

“Pretty much all of District Twelve was elated, since either of you gave us our best hope in decades. We all saw a toasting, clear as day. I was one of many who cried thinking of their own weddings. Your Hob friends led what turned out to be a districtwide sponsorship drive. We knew since the announcement that both of you were going to make it out…” _One and Two had been just as confident._ “…but none of us expected this.”

“That’s for sure! Anything else?,” I admitted and asked.

She definitely had something else to announce. “Apparently you two aren’t the only Hawthorne-Everdeen couple.”

“I’m willing to guess it’s Rory – Vick is still in the ‘girls are icky’ phase,” I said somewhat sarcastically.

She shifted to graver matters. “I can’t believe I’m thinking about your wedding instead of your funeral.”

            “Me neither. I was afraid I’d be burying her instead of marrying her, or vice versa,” the relief clear in my voice.

.

            Prim held up a sign, which I recognized as being in Rory’s handwriting: ‘The saved welcome home their saviors.’ Rory greeted me with “Big Man! Is it real?”

Katniss cut in with “Big Man? You’re more right than you know.”  
Back to Rory, I said “Yes, it’s really me.”

“I mean, you with her,” he clarified.

I was honest with him. “Neither did us. It’s totally real, although sometimes we hammed it up for the cameras.”

“So you finally picked one…I think I might have too,” he said to directly confirm what Ma had told me. He silently pointed to Prim. I didn’t really notice her greeting Katniss – I was lost in thought about how to help Rory with _this_. “I think we bonded over being relatively lucky enough to have the best older siblings in the world,” he continued.

“Thank you, Little Man! … but remember that they’re different – in short, Katniss is a daddy’s girl and Prim is a momma’s girl. Also, I always wanted to make sure you behaved around the ladies when the time came, but especially this one, got it? If she’s anything like her sister, you aren’t going to be able to think of anything else.”

.

I then turned to my youngest brother. “Happy belated 11th birthday, Vick. As we all know, I had to miss it,” I said with a curious emphasis on the last line. “And remember, girls aren’t icky – you do icky things with them.”

“So it’s fun?,” he wondered.

“It’s about more than that, but you got that right…as for the Games, they’re beyond icky in a way that non-tributes just won’t quite understand,” I said, feeling the need to be brutally honest.

“We thought if anyone from 12 could win, it would be one of you two,” he said, cheering me on. “But not both of you.”

            “That’s what we told ourselves too,” I answered simply.

.

I turned to Katniss and said “I sometimes wasn’t sure if _I’d_ make it out alive…” I emphasized this by showing off the scars on my neck and left arm. “…so it’s beyond my wildest dreams to be returning home together.” _Go for it now_. In one smooth motion, I knelt down and said. “Katniss Ingrid Everdeen, will you marry me again?”

            “Of course!” She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled my head towards hers – among other things, I _had_ taught her how to kiss.

“I’d say that’s a ‘yes’,” Ingrid understated, and the small crowd went nuts. We stood up and Katniss grasped my arm at the elbow as we took a bow together.

.

            I wondered aloud to Cato. “What a difference a day makes. Did you ever thing we could be so close, like brothers?”

            “Well, you take that word pretty damn seriously, so you must really mean that,” he acknowledged.

            “Very true,” I agreed. “Well, once you went rebel, there wasn’t so much different between us. We came from different places to have a common background in the arena. I hope _those_ memories can become distant and buried in the past forever.”

.

            Prim finally broke away from a Katniss bear hug and ran over to me to say “Shoulder!”. She did sometimes like me walking around carrying her. I knelt down so she could climb up, and I held on to her threadbare shoes. Lustre decided to copy the idea, and Cato was poked by the heels of her shiny leather boots. Rory gave Posy a lift while we were at it. It was in this state that the crowd greeted the rest of District Thirteen. Glimmer and Posy came off as the stars of the show. Of the former, Cato joked “Treating her like a princess is her prince’s job”, which Glimmer herself found particularly amusing.

.

            We were addressed by a plain looking woman with a regal bearing. She must be the one in charge here, the President Alma Coin that Plutarch had mentioned. “Welcome to District Thirteen, and welcome to the beginning of the end of the Capitol’s rule.” There was a feeling of change as soldiers passed by that August summer night.

            I decided to take her to task with my burning question. “Why did you abandon the other twelve districts to Snow and his ilk?”

            It immediately became apparent that she was not accustomed to being spoken to this way. “We barely escaped with our own lives, let alone strength to escalate the fight. It takes a long time to set up these plans, boy.” _Like her or not, the enemy of my enemy is my friend._

.

            Our new home could best be described as orderly, worst described as a stultifying plainness and sameness. The food was not too much, not too little, not too palatable, not too revolting. They had it down to a science, including the science of growing or synthesizing it underground. The menu was lacking in imagination, as opposed to Greasy Sae’s excess of imagination. The Army uniforms and much of the other clothing was a solid gray.

 

Gale’s Rant

 

            The rebel leaders wanted to counter Capitol propaganda with some of our own. I volunteered with “Let me handle this. I was practically born a rebel – live in the poorest part of the poorest district, and you pick up on that real quick. What I’ve said only to Katniss in the woods, I now get to say to the entire country.”

            Beetee was giving some instructions to District 13 techs, and I overheard him say to them “Of course I can hack the Capitol communications network. I practically designed it. And we’re live…”

            “I understand that many of you were overjoyed at the announcement. The Capitol wasn’t just going to let one couple win, they were still going to make one die. Killing 22 instead of 23 is not my idea of mercy! I had never believed the Capitol propaganda, but at least Cato Adams finally saw through it.

“I sometimes wasn’t sure if _I’d_ make it out alive,” I said, showing off my wounds again. “So I was surprised to escape with Katniss and doubly surprised to escape with Cato and Glimmer as well. You think other districts are the enemy, as the Games are designed to do, but the Capitol is the real enemy.”


	3. The Warrior Couples

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There’s a third two-victor couple, and all of them share a wedding date as the evacuees get used to life at the rebel base.

            They weren’t kidding when they said life in District Thirteen was tightly controlled. Every morning, we would get a temporary tattoo on our arm with that day’s schedule. Appropriately, _Bathing_ was at the end, at which point the ink washed off. The morning of the 21 st, I put my arm in and saw _0800 Propaganda_ right after _0700 Breakfast_. In the dining hall, Katniss pointed out that she received the same assignment. Cato made a show of choking down the broth; Katniss and I shook our heads as if to say to each other _at least it’s not one of Greasy Sae’s more ‘inventive’ concoctions._ “Since we’re not _officially_ married _yet_ , we were put in our families’ compartments,” I complained.

            “Tell me about it!,” Cato agreed. _Yeah, your parents really kill the mood._ Looking around the table, there was a rare moment of Katniss and Glimmer being in agreement.

            “Where’d Haymitch go?,” I said to no one in particular.

            “There’s no drinking alcohol here,” Prim answered. _Haymitch abruptly going cold sober? Yeah, that’s not good. I felt for him, but it needed to happen. I never had an interest in booze and he had too much of an interest, but this still reminded me of how simple and plain life is here. The Seam is many things, dirt poor chief among them, but not so simple and plain._ Thirteen had acknowledged the medical talent of her and her mother, although they did not yet respect the full extent of it. “While working in the hospital, I’ve passed by the room where they have him locked up. It sure doesn’t sound pretty. His friends Jack and Chaff are in the rooms on either side.” _Haymitch sometimes recounted his drunken adventures with those two. Chaff won five years before Haymitch and Jack won five years before that. All three of them had turned to alcohol to dull the pain._

.

Finnick was in the meeting room with the four of us and an assortment of District Thirteen officials. He was clinging to a slight young woman with long dark hair and greenish eyes – Anemone Cresta, commonly known as Annie, a District Four girl who won the next Games after my father died. Plutarch explained their presence with “Meet the other two-victor couple”.

Glimmer cheered this with a rambunctious shout of “Lucky Annie!”.  
            I was incredulous and it showed. “Some couple – Finnick’s bedded practically every woman in the Capitol.” _And probably some of the men._ It seemed like only a slight exaggeration. While many other victors were common sights in the big city, none had nearly his track record. _Waiting for Katniss and angry at the Capitol, I hadn’t obsessed over the female victors like many guys at school, but I wouldn’t have minded a piece of Sapphire Silversmith, hoo boy!_

            Annie defended him. “They have Finnick only in name – no true touch, glance or desire. Oh, so you were unaware of Snow’s secret side business? The bastard pimps out attractive victors and threatens their loved ones to ensure compliance.” _Is there no limit to that man’s evil?_ “I’m Finnick’s true love, but that’s not good enough for Snow!,” she shouted. Her outburst and a stare into the distance seemed emblematic of her damage from the arena.

            “I feel so sorry for him. After all, I chose dear Catnip over vapid pretty girls. Finnick wasn’t allowed to make that choice until now.” I caught myself and added “All of these ladies are both very attractive and very intelligent.”

.

With that out of the way, Heavensbee moved to announcing his main plan. “Would you three couples like to share a wedding and broadcast it? This is a wonderful chance to strike back at the Capitol, by showing Panem the happiness they’ve tried to take away from the six of you.”

            _A poor tomboy and a rich girly girl trying to plan for the same wedding. This is going to be fun._ Katniss sarcastically fired back, “Sure, we can do the paperwork in Coin’s office sometime on the same day.”

            Alma said, “That was my first idea too, but I was thinking of a bit more than that.”

            Plutarch interrupted his boss. “A lot more than that!” He was firmly on the rebels’ side, but he was still imbued with the way things are done in the Capitol. He started waxing poetic about fancy plans, and Glimmer started squealing with joy.

            Alma interrupted back. “You know how I feel about frivolity, Heavensbee.”

            “We’ve been over this. Charge it to the propaganda budget. How do you feel about that?,” Plutarch challenged. The District 13 boss grudgingly approved. That was only part of their compromise; it would be simpler than Plutarch wanted while fancier than Alma wanted.

            Katniss still wanted to keep it straightforward, and announced “Weddings are so much simpler in Twelve; we already had that in the arena and I wouldn’t mind continuing in that direction.”

            “True enough, my Catnip, but I hate the Capitol almost as much as I love you,” I said. _I would do well to keep those priorities in the right order._ Katniss went along with it. _She was right – in a way, we did already have the simple wedding she would have wanted if she was to have a wedding at all. I suppose she saw Plutarch’s logic as clearly as I did. She certainly thought of Prim - the youngest Everdeen liked these fancy things as much as a Seam girl was able to, and the maid of honor’s enthusiasm would carry over to the bride herself._

.

Heavensbee moved to suggesting a date. “How about August 26th?”

            Glimmer declined. “That’s Lustre’s birthday – I want to keep that her big day, not mine.” _What a nice touch. Anyway, Vick’s was the 15 th – none of the other Hawthorne or Everdeen birthdays were anywhere near this time of year._ There were no objections to having the ceremony the day before that.

.

Coin continued to seem put off by the plans, and snapped “As for the rings, we aren’t exactly flush in jewels and gold.” Glimmer continued to look shaken.

However, Cato stepped up for his woman of all of three weeks. “You want some gold? I got some gold right here! Make the rings out of this if you have to!” He reached into his pocket and pulled out an aureus, the largest of Panem’s gold coins, an inch in diameter. _I thought they were mythical objects._

I had been trying to tell Cato about the circumstances in District Twelve, and I didn’t care for this casual display of wealth. “One of those things could feed my family for nearly a month!”

“Our rings made out of my token for the Games where we met,” he answered levelheadedly. _Oh._

Glimmer gladly suggested details. “How about engraving the date, the person’s name, and that of their spouse? My father’s a metalworker in the jewelry shops back home.” _Might explain why_ your _father is still alive_ , I thought, feeling venom that I knew better than to display publicly. “He can surely take care of it. Lustre is a promising young artist; I’m sure she can come up with some nice lettering.” Cato nonchalantly agreed and so did the two of us. Finnick and Annie declined, explaining they had brought heirloom rings with them.

Apparel was the next topic. “We are in the middle of a war – how would the guys feel about wearing uniforms?,” Plutarch suggested.

“Sure, whatever,” I agreed.

“I wouldn’t mind either.” _That’s my Catnip._ Glimmer gave her an incredulous look, and the gesture was returned. In all seriousness, Cinna would work on all three dresses – being a style genius with a simple and classic fashion sense, he could accomplish a lot with District Thirteen’s limited fabric supply. However, the grooms wouldn’t see their brides in the outfits before the ceremony. We would wear khaki ceremonial uniforms instead of the gray field uniforms. The other military folks in attendance would wear the simpler attire.

.

            I walked ahead with the other two guys as we left the meeting. Finnick jokingly ‘offered some nautically themed advice’. “Remember, gentlemen, it’s the size of the boat, the motion of the ocean, _and_ staying in port long enough for both passengers to disembark.” I was amused, and Cato found it hilarious.

            “What’s so funny?,” Katniss called out.

            “Nothing, Catnip,” I said defensively. “Not that I had any problems with that,” I said to Finnick evenly.

            Odair got serious. “To share that with someone I actually love, that’s the only point, I’m ecstatic that the day is almost here.”

            Cato made himself heard first. “I had many girls in my bed back home, of everybody’s free will mind you, but until I had Glimmer, I hadn’t realized what I had been missing.”

            “I understand, though at my age it was merely hot empty kisses,” I agreed.

            “Oh, it irritated my mother,” Cato continued. “My father had her and her alone, everyone says. She does like Glimmer more than Sunstone and Mink like me, that’s for sure.”

            “Ah, who wouldn’t like Glimmer?,” Finnick interjected. “Even when her beauty is not at issue, she has a gift for making people like her.”

.

            When I saw Glimmer in the hallway, I solemnly told her “Katniss does not forgive and forget easily. Remember that. I certainly keep it in mind”.

            “Well, I can’t make everybodylike me,” she said, dejected but not pouting.

.

            We began our military training in the meantime, starting with weapons instead of formations. A no-nonsense middle-aged woman going by her title ‘Soldier York’ was in charge of the rifle range. Katniss and I transitioned fairly well from archery to rifle shooting. Cato was quite happy about learning how to use yet another kind of weapon. Glimmer was no better with this particular ranged weapon. _Or did she just look bad compared to Katniss?_ York was not amused, yelling “Shinesmith! You’re not going anywhere! Even if you weren’t pregnant, you can’t shoot worth a damn!”

.

            In short, the ceremony would blend the marriage traditions of our four districts. The wedding would be held in the Collective, the major auditorium Thirteen also used for more mundane large gatherings. District Four newlyweds touched saltwater to their lips, and our friends from the fishing district had brought plenty with them. After we were through with the wedding itself, we would progress to the dining hall for a meal much beyond Thirteen’s usual fare. The native cooks were somewhat stymied by that. Lyme contributed a chocolate cake recipe. Katniss and I could use another toasting, and the other couples were interested in learning the ritual.

.

It had been left unsaid was how much Katniss and I missed being in the woods together. This fact, lost in the recent chaos, came rushing back now with the thoughts of food and the weapons recently placed in our hands. They needed us for the rebellion, so we should be able to insist on this and various other conditions. Sure enough, Coin grudgingly would allow us into the District Thirteen woods, with time and distance restrictions, as well as having to turn our catch over to the communal kitchen. Even limited, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to do what was second nature to us. We would add Rory and Cato to our hunting party, and Coin gave us grief about that too. _I’m starting to like her less and less._ “Too many hunters would deplete the woods, but we could still use more than two, and I really want to teach these guys,” I explained. They would have their own thoughts about being added to the group.

            Cato, who was fast developing a skill and passion for the rifle, was quite pleased with these plans. He butted in with “I get to kill _and_ eat? Awesome.” _Typical Cato, although killing food animals would indeed be an improvement._

            “It’s time for me to get started?,” Rory said in a timid voice.

            I answered him confidently. “Rory, Katniss and I had already been out in the woods for months by the time we were your age.”

            Katniss would be comfortable with none other than a bow, using the one from the arena. It had been locked in the armory, and the three of us joined her as she went to retrieve it. I insisted that they issue Rory a smaller archery set in my name. Cato and I would be carrying service rifles in single-shot mode; I was even able to spin that as part of our training.

.

            The animals of this wood were not used to being hunted, and that bit of hesitation greatly improved our success rate and was much more tolerant of our trainees’ lack of experience in the art. Stealth was not one of Cato’s virtues; I heard many branches snap. Rory largely stayed behind me and to my left. We had caught and picked several small things when Rory pointed out a small group of deer. He aimed at the small one close to him, and somehow managed to get a decent shot in on its side. The other animals were obviously startled, but Katniss had already been tracking the middle one and led it perfectly. Cato and I took out two of the farthest and largest ones, both of us squeezing out headshots. “That’s enough for now!,” I cheered. We pooled the smaller game into Rory’s bag. Cato hoisted both his deer and Rory’s as Katniss and I dragged back our own kills. “Was this a good idea or was this a good idea?,” I gleefully stated once we got back to base.

.

            Appropriately, our table was served first that evening, some venison plain and some in a stew. “You can celebrate your first kill by eating first,” I said primarily to Rory but also to Cato. “Normally it is not so quick and grand a kill as this – the odds were in your favor.”

The Hawthornes and Everdeens had that meat before on the rare occasions Katniss or I had managed to bag deer. It was a new taste to Cato, and he went all food critic on us. “It’s very strong, that’s for sure. Almost overpowering by itself, but quite pleasant in the stew,” he said. _Fair enough._

            One of the natives came over to say “We are well fed here, but normally not so heartily as this. Congratulations.”

.

            We visited the medical bay and I saw someone present a vial to Katniss. There were only a few like it on the shelf it came from. “You might just want this,” the medic announced.

“What is it?,” Catnip asked.

            “Birth control shot. Your mother might mix up something from the woods, and that’s better than nothing, but this is the good stuff, kind of like morphling instead of snowcoat as a painkiller. There’s a certain someone who used this stuff regularly, stopped, and is pregnant now.”

            “Glimmer? Well, those shots must be effective if they kept that whore from getting knocked up until now,” Catnip joked. _After all, Katniss hadn’t even kissed a boy until she was past sixteen, and I heard Glimmer had lost her virginity on her fourteenth birthday._ Katniss confidently rolled up her sleeve. Annie was offered the next vial on the shelf, but declined.

.

Tomorrow was the big day. I was waiting with Cato making idle talk. “Where’s your name come from?,” I asked.

“Most of the men in my father’s family are Julius or Cato. Mother considered this a reasonable alternative to Julius 2,” Cato stated. “Odd that you’d be asking that question, _Gale_ ,” he needled.

“Father said a strong wind blew the night of my birth and that I’d grow to be as strong as it. He was right, and now that wind is fanning the flames of rebellion, flames that burned in me even before he died,” I spoke.

He followed up with “What day was that anyway?”

“March 3rd,” I said to give a simple question a simple answer.

“May 8th,” he said with just as little fanfare.

“Whaddaya know, that’s Katniss’ too,” I shot back.

“Would make for a kickass birthday party,” Cato suggested.

“If we live to see it,” I said solemnly.

Finnick showed up and put us right back into a lighter mood. “Well, I’m December 3rd and Annie is November 11th. Sorry if that spoils the fun,” he said.

.

Four’s ringbearers were our fellow victors Hook and Lotus. Rory, Brutus and Hook waited outside while us guys put on uniforms. The clothing was the same, but we carried different weapons. There was nothing merely ceremonial about my combat knife, Cato’s sword or Finnick’s trident. My blade was the same one Katniss and I used in the arena. Prim, Lustre and Lotus came out with the brides, having helped them dress. Katniss was dressed green, Glimmer was adorned in pink and purple, and Annie wore blue. The gowns were similarly styled, including the appropriate district number in lace on the shoulders. I also noticed arrows in the lace patterns on Katniss’ sleeves. I traced the left sleeve with my right hand as I said, “Perfect. You’re even more beautiful than usual while making a statement. Classic Cinna.” The others also had

Rory and Prim sure did look cute together. It was amusing to see Brutus and Lustre standing next to each other, since they had an even larger age difference than Cato and Posy. Lustre distributed the wedding bands she had made with her father. I noticed that the packages said ‘SF1’ and asked her about this. “Shinesmith Forge is a company name I thought of, and I always wanted the first item to be my big sister’s wedding ring,” the little shiny one explained. Rory let me have a look, Lustre’s fancy lettering reading ‘Gale and Katniss August 25th 74’. Katniss, Cato and Glimmer reported similar results.

Cato’s mother was the only other person in the room with the nine of us. “Remember that you’re still alive because a man listened when his woman told him to do something,” she said to her son. Katniss and I both applauded her for that.

            “Yes, mother, giving me instructions is Glimmer’s job now, and I rather like what she tells me to do.” _Is it even possible for Cato and Glimmer to keep it in their pants?_ Glimmer winked, her groom’s ribaldry perfectly understood.

.

            Teresa walked into the Collective ahead of us and announced “They’re almost ready”.

            I heard Beetee respond with “We just went live.” We walked into the auditorium together. Finnick and Annie were front and center. We were to their left. Cato and Glimmer were to their right.

            Mr. Shinesmith, Mr. Cresta and Mrs. Everdeen walked up to meet us. As Sunstone stood with his daughter, he addressed Cato directly. “We all know how excited she is to be with you. Live up to it.”

            Mrs. Everdeen was one of the first to speak to the crowd as a whole, paraphrasing some things said upon our arrival. “We are lucky to be at a wedding instead of at funerals. I haven’t seen men look at their women like that since my Jacob. May you all have many decades of feeling like that. Gale, welcome to the family _officially_.”

            As we walked, I saw Haymitch wave. They must have let him out of the drunk tank, at least for this. I loudly commented on the ringbearers for the cameras’ sake. “Three of the attendants are our fellow victors. The other three are victors in a way, since they’ll never face the reaping again.”

            Hook and Lotus opened their palms to reveal the specific rings they were bearing. They spoke in unison with an enchanting story about the pieces. “Several past victors have married, but there was only one two-victor couple before this - Popeye and Olive from our district fifty years ago. They are no longer with us, but they knew about Finnick and Annie, and willed their rings to them for when this moment could finally come.” Finnick and Annie took the rings and put them on. The loudest cheers came from Cecelia Weaver of District Eight, the only previously-married victor in attendance. Her non-victor husband Alexander and their three daughters were present but not as loud. Lustre, while getting out Glimmer’s band, put it practically right in front of a camera lens. Cato and Glimmer also put their own rings on, but we let Rory and Prim slip ours on.

.

            Some of our parents read district-specific vows which we’d answer together. Mr. Shinesmith spoke first. “Gentlemen, will you be the husbands these lovely ladies deserve?”

            “We will.”

            Ms Anthony was next. “Ladies, will you be the wives these gallant gentlemen deserve?”

            “We will.”

            We had decided to skip the particularly unromantic District Two statements. Mama Odair and Papa Cresta read the District Four style vows in unison. “Will you serve faithfully as the captains of each others’ hearts?” Six voices confirmed.

            Ingrid and my mother also read ritual statements together. The words seemed second nature to them, and ended with “Will you honor and cherish the ones you’ve chosen, throughout all the highs and lows this life presents you with?” The six voices rang out again.

.          

            Coin presented us with the marriage certificates and we all rushed to put our names to them. There were plenty of witnesses, but each couple needed to have two adults not related to them officially sign off as such. Cinna was first for us. Haymitch’s hand was steady enough to write. Brutus, Cashmere, Hook and Mags joined Abernathy in signing for mentorees, as had happened for past victor weddings. Now it was official. Then each couple kissed. I looked out of the corner of my eye while Katniss and I were still locked in our embrace. _Rory and Prim, I saw that. Very cute. Your lips were definitely touching. Cato and Glimmer, I saw that too. Are you unaware that you have an audience, or are you very aware? Your tongue is definitely in her mouth._

District Four tradition was particularly prominent at the end of the public ceremony. Existing married couples in the audience joined us newlyweds on stage. They started singing a song comparing marriage to a long sea voyage. Katniss quickly added her voice to the chorus. _Her singing was one of the many beautiful things about her; I wish she did it more often._ As the last verse faded out, the mothers of Finnick, Annie and Glimmer broke away to hand their children small vials of water. My mother, as well as Mrs. Everdeen and Ms. Anthony, stood up for the same purpose. Finnick dipped his finger in and painted it onto Annie’s lips. Annie returned the favor and the rest of us followed suit. Glimmer loudly said to Cato “That saltwater stings, but nothing assaults my lips quite like your kisses”, and Cato gladly gave her another demonstration.

.

Now the spouses were given a chance to speak. As usual, we spoke in district order, ladies first, so Glimmer started. The elated young woman practically squealed, “I first thought I simply had my latest piece of eye candy. I’m so glad I was wrong! Now we’re going to be a family! I hadn’t thought about our future because I didn’t think we had one. Cashmere, Brutus, Haymitch, what a brilliant idea!” They all drew tremendous applause. Brutus was already standing behind Cato. Cashmere and Haymitch rose from the victors section, Goldman much steadier than Abernathy of course.

.

            Cato replied in a calmer but still enthusiastic manner. “This woman was the first to crack my shell. One of my fellow District Two tough guys is here with us today, and he of all people would understand how difficult that is.” Brutus rose to applause again. “That reaping footage was of the prettiest young woman I’ve ever seen. When we met, embraced and kissed, it couldn’t have felt more natural. I see it in her eyes. It’s over - I’m a goner. I never knew about sweet love, and never had one like her before; now it’s two as one. This won’t be a walk in the park, but I can’t be afraid of the dark. I shall always cherish the attentions of one so beautiful. Love of my life, I’m pledged to you – I’ll honor and stay forever true to you, my Glimmer Rose.” _That must be the clean version for the benefit of Glimmer’s parents._

.

            Annie reprised the role of the bride almost catatonic with joy. “I’m so glad this day finally came! Finnick saved me – before either of us faced the arena, while I was in the arena, and afterwards. He cares for and understands me like no one else. Look at what he turned down because he’d rather have me. That’s for real.”

.

            Finnick responded with “I’ll never forget when I first met her – can you believe that someone from District Four didn’t know how to swim? I first felt the magic as I began to teach her that and she began to teach me how to move past the horrors of my arena. I will never forgive Snow for torturing us because I balked at his vile business. I just know he rigged the 70th Reaping and turned this lovely girl into ‘crazy Cresta’. But at least I had taught my beautiful little fishy how to swim back to me.” I applauded his mixture of love and hate.

.

            Katniss said both some expected and some surprising things. “I had never thought about love until a few weeks ago, but it felt so natural with a friend so close. Then he wanted us to be married even for what little time we thought we had left together. That’s when I realized for sure he was the one forever. We were on a battlefield and he still took the time to kiss me good morning – ain’t that somethin’? Now I get why so many girls are such romantics. Also, as usual, Cinna’s handiwork was brilliant. May there be a reason for this dress to be used again - I do hope Prim and Rory’s relationship grows up with them. It seems it didn’t take her as long to find what I’ve found.”  They both beamed at the special mention. While still holding hands, they pivoted to peck each other on the lips again.

.

            I felt more relieved than anything right now. “May ‘the rest of our lives’ truly mean something. The Announcement was the happiest moment of my life – so far. I only wish it didn’t take the arena to make us realize how great we are for each other.”

.

            An armless man was near the front of the mob as we made it out of the auditorium. He had declined a prosthetic hand to hide the one he lost in the arena. Chaff. Haymitch’s main drinking buddy. And from the same district as Rue. “Mrs. Hawthorne?,” he said to Katniss looking quite full of himself.

            Ironically, the only one of the three brides not to take a married name was the first to be addressed by one. “Nope, still Ms. Everdeen,” Catnip interrupted.

            “ _Anyway_ , most everybody from District Eleven was extremely touched by your love for our little flower. More importantly, it touched _off_ a major riot in Zone B. The bouquet seen ‘round the country. That milestone in the rebellion was just before Cato ran his mouth.”

            Once we actually made it to the dining hall, the cakes came out first. One was shaped like a block of stone or a diamond, depending on how you turned it, frosted silver. The next was a blue fish. The last, mine and Catnip’s of course, was a green tree. Lustre had replicated her ring lettering in icing on each of our cakes. Ours had an adaptation of Rory’s token design right above the ‘Katniss and Gale’, but with the three Everdeens joining the five Hawthornes. In Twelve, only the lucky could afford even a bit of cake at weddings, so these chocolate monsters went above and beyond for us. Glimmer was handed her machete, metal gleaming. It was physically cleansed of Logroll’s blood, and using is as a tool to help celebrate these happiest of times would go a long way towards mentally cleansing it. She wrapped her hands around the handle and Cato put his on top of hers. They pushed down into the cake; soft sepia sponge and silver sugar sunk to meet the blade. “It’s my wedding so I’ll have dessert first if I damn well please,” Cato joked at his mother.

            We each fed our new spouses, and then handed pieces to our attendants. Rory said “it tastes like Lyme’s candy.” That made Vick and Posy rush to grab pieces, making them the first two to be served after the nine of us.

            “That woman and her chocolate. I swear, she never needed to take a lover because she gets off on that stuff instead,” Brutus said. He at least had the courtesy to whisper the ribald comment.

            Dinner was mainly more of the venison stew; our four-strong hunting party had certainly provided the kitchen with plenty of raw material for it.

.

“We’ll show the footage and discuss the reactions later.” Plutarch announced. Cato and Finnick began to carry their brides; Katniss walked alongside me as it always had been and always will be.

Each of the warrior couples would have compartments near each other. The toasting would be carried out with District Four seaweed-flavored bread. People besides the six of us began to clear out. We didn’t want Plutarch’s video cameras around; we’d compromise by taking some still pictures, and the media staff would combine those with footage of the toasting Katniss and I did in the arena. I wielded mine and Katniss’ knife again. “It’s important to the tradition that the couple makes the fire themselves,” I intoned. Katniss was working on exactly that while I cut a couple slices of bread, passing the knife and the remainder of the bread to Glimmer; she gave them to Annie in turn. Those who had not laid the fires touched the lighters to them. “May we always burn passionately for each other,” I continued just as solemnly. The end of the speech had more levity, as I said it through the crunching bread and changed the words to fit our situation. “And now six have become three.”

We went through the doors and closed them; Glimmer and Annie had been lifted again while Katniss walked through the opening. Annie was the only one of the six to go to the marriage beds untouched; Katniss and I had our one time, and we all know Finnick, Cato and Glimmer were anything but virgins.

 

“I do want us to carefully undress, savor the view,” Katniss suggested, and I had no intention of complaining about that. I started gently tugging at her back zipper while she unbuttoned my shirt. As I pulled the zipper down further, the dress fell. Evidently it had a built-in bodice, leaving nothing blocking the view now. He gaze was also impatient, so I dropped my pants and undershorts in one motion as I often did. We both effortlessly kicked away the hems of our lower clothes.

As she folded the gown, she said “I love you, Gale Thomas Hawthorne!” I was rather surprised when she added “Lift me up, carry me to the bed”.

“What?,” I responded.

“I put on a brave face out there, but this is our moment. I may be the toughest girl in District Twelve, but I’m still a girl,” she explained.

“Make no mistake, Catnip, we’re the adults we’ve had to be for years; this just makes it official. Yet this moment is wonderful in its simplicity. I am just a man in the presence of the most truly beautiful woman he has ever known. Oh, you’re very pleasant to look at, even without Cinna’s magic, but your spirit is what really shines. I had a feeling this day would come. I love you and only you, Katniss _Ingrid_ Everdeen,” I said with my bride in my arms. Katniss laughed as I laid her down on the bed.

“Even Cinna’s magnificent efforts don’t make me feel nearly as desirable as you are making me feel right now – your beautiful glance, wonderful smile, and perfect touch….well, it seems you are very much in my presence,” she said as she smiled. _Indeed, there may as well have been a gun barrel sticking out from between my legs._ I rubbed between hers, soon moving faster and in circles. Her convulsing took to a similar pattern. As I tasted her, in between increasingly ragged breaths she said “That’s right, we’re here to make love, not talk about it, oh yes.” She guided me into her, even that simple touch sending shockwaves throughout our entire bodies. I wrapped around her as I thrust, my legs around her hips of course, but also pulling her upper body even closer to heighten the already overwhelming sensations. I had half a mind to cradle her head and kiss her as furiously as I knew how, which was rather powerfully, but we both reveled in the moans of pleasure escaping her otherwise unoccupied lips. I began to scream her name as loudly as she was yelling mine. As we spasmed, I stayed inside her. Now we kissed passionately, as I was running my fingers all over her.

As we separated, she turned face down. She rose from the pillow, supporting her head with a hand on her cheek, and turned around to say “Until recently, I hadn’t even known about the feelings that would come with this day, but right now I just want you to take me again.”

“With pleasure…the greatest pleasure.” I was behind her, but simply at a different angle to access her pink front. She gripped the pillow and the sound of her pleasure was muffled by it. “Soft and sore,” she said of her crotch after the new waves of pleasure overwhelmed us, “but I wouldn’t have it any other way.” We began to fall asleep in each other’s spent embrace, just as in the Training Center; had it really been less than three weeks? We were on our sides now. Her head rested on my chest, giving me a wonderful view of her chest. Her hair ran wild, the braid long since having come loose. She pulled the covers over us and said “Goodnight, my groom.”

.

            I was knocked out of my slumber. Glimmer was still making a racket courtesy of what Cato was doing to her. In a zombified state, I got up and yelled through the wall. “Mrs. Adams! They can hear you all the way over in District Three!” How Katniss was sleeping through it I don’t know. It stopped and I climbed back into bed, the most wonderful soft warmth there to greet me. I nearly instantly returned to my slumber.

.

I felt Katniss’ mouth trailing its way down my chest until it gripped the barrel itself. “Good morning, wife, or am I still dreaming?”

She lifted her head long enough to say “No, you got up, that’s for sure” before returning to licking my shaft. I soon arched back, about to burst. She climbed off with her mouth, only to climb right back on with her legs. This time, we did have our lips occupied with the burning touch of each others’. Her tongue was inside my mouth as sure as my pole was inside her hole, and I shivered right before I filled her again. She went to her dresser to pull out a set of the standard civilian clothes for the day, her beautiful naked hips staring me in the face. I walked over and gently turned her around, leaning her upper body back on the top of the short clothes cabinet. “Apparently we’ll never be done with each other,” she said while smiling yet again. I entered her while standing up and gently caressing her chest with my outstretched hands. The look in her eyes a few feet away was something I’d never forget and never want to forget. We added today’s clothes to each others’ bodies as carefully as we had removed yesterday’s.

.

            Once we were all dressed and in the light of the hallway outside our compartments, Cato said “You know how it is…”

            I interrupted him to yell “…for you two! Some of us are a little more considerate!”

            “We were also able to keep it down,” Finnick added.

            “But still, what a choice for my first and last!,” emoted ecstatic exhausted Annie.

            I turned to her and responded “I’d drink to that if they let us drink here.”

            “Cheers!,” Katniss added. Her staggering was fake, part of a humorous imitation of Haymitch in his usual drunken state, but it was a wonder any of us could walk at all right now. The other three heartily agreed with the last part, the one they could speak on.

.

            In the dining hall, the cake trays had not been picked clean quite yet, and Glimmer took six pieces of the gray stone back to her table to acknowledge Lustre’s 14th birthday. I bore eight tree branches to the Everthorne section to assist in belatedly celebrating Vick’s 11th.

.

            The six of us were due back in Propaganda to review the broadcast. Plutarch was ecstatic. “That was brilliant! We have copies of District security camera feeds, to show just how well it went over. We’ll splice that into the short clips we rebroadcast. We’re dueling with the Capitol techs, so we have to hit hard and fast when we do have control.”

 _Walls of District Twelve respect signs facing each other, imagining they were with us and we were with them, combined with clips of the actual procession._ Katniss and I naturally gestured back at them, even though only the few of us in the studio were there to see it. _A crowd mouthing words, undoubtedly the District Four song._ Annie burst into tears as Finnick soothed her. “Your ship and its crew of two,” Katniss hummed almost under her breath, one of the lines she remembered. Even One and Two were starting to crack, as they watched their native daughter and native son be joined to each other. Some people from Glimmer’s district danced and flashed jewelry; some from Cato’s raised their ring hands and nodded appreciatively.

Plutarch offered some context. “It is common for District Two men to take younger wives, but it’s usually something like forty and thirty instead of eighteen and seventeen. At least someone didn’t have to go through the Peacekeepers first. Note that they’re wearing titanium; even the simple gold bands would be extravagant there.”

We saw many from the other eight districts were cheering, when Plutarch’s sources could get footage from amongst the riots. I knew those crowds weren’t just happy for the six of us – they were hopeful for the future we could bring for ourselves and everyone else in Panem, that which we all deserved

.

Later that day, I procured a large metal dish from supply, explaining it as a wedding gift, which it sort of was. Katniss asked “What’s the curved mirror for?” as I took her to bed, the dish placed behind it.

            “You’ll see.” _And ‘Glato’ will hear._

            I knew how to get her to make more noise than usual. She gladly took it at face value, and the mirror channeled the echoes towards the Adams bed.

            Now Glimmer yelled at us to complain. “Everdeen!”

            A comeback was part of my plans for this little prank. “Turnabout is fair play, shiny.”

.

            We would soon be back to the work of winning a brighter future. We were having a short honeymoon, that’s for sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Annie did know how to swim - that was the only reason she won. The dam broke and no one else knew how to swim or wasn’t a strong swimmer. However, she knew how to swim because Finnick had taught her by then. It’s part of my backstory; I got the idea from MainstayPro’s brilliant Finnick and Annie series on YouTube.


	4. Evacuation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rebellion comes to District 12.

            “The Capitol has struck back in the propaganda war,” Plutarch announced. “They’re parading rebel Victors they’ve captured.” Faces and information on their bearers appeared on the screen. Woof, Belle, Pike, Pine, Seeder, Megan, Harvest, Justin, Bill – all old-timers that hadn’t made it out of the Capitol with Haymitch and the rest. “Stephanie and Winnow are two more recent victors, and they’re the only ones of this year’s mentors unaccounted for. Snow hasn’t been able to find them, but we haven’t either.”

            “The Capitol could be holding them in reserve,” I suggested.

            “Good point, Hawthorne…,” Heavensbee acknowledged.

            “Considering how good they look, holding them in specific ways,” Cato joked.

He was chastised by Plutarch’s assistant shouting “Adams!”

            Plutarch got us back on track with more unpleasant information. “They’ve also had several victors publicly declare for the Capitol.” That included Enobaria and Pearl from amongst this year’s mentors, and several other Careers. “Without Adams, Adams, Odair and Odair, that could have been a lot worse,” Heavensbee said to cheer on our fellow newlywed victors. I could halfway understand many of the Capitol’s pets supporting it. However, Jet of Six and Windmill of Five especially aggravated me. They won around the same time Haymitch did, and this set off the short fuse of the still-drying-out Abernathy.

 

            I went back to my compartment before dinner. When I left for the dining hall, I noticed that Glimmer’s mother had visited her in the hallway outside ‘the newlywed apartments’. Our families lived somewhere else in Thirteen – aware that their adult children have sex, they don’t want to dwell on it. Well, I had thought similarly while my father was still alive. I overheard the two District One women talking. “I rather enjoy being treated like this,” Glimmer said. “Haven’t you said that the right men make women feel precisely this way?”

            “Exactly, dear,” Mink Shinesmith responded. “And one of them’s right behind us,” she said to acknowledge my presence. “I definitely see it in _Still Ms. Everdeen_ , and the new Mrs. Odair too for that matter.”

            “Thank you for noticing it – my Catnip can be guarded. But with Finnick and Annie, everybody can see it.” _Without Cato and Glimmer’s displays of animal lust_ , I thought but did not say in front of them.

            Mrs. Shinesmith left, and Glimmer said as if to read my mind “Oh, I opened my body to him – as I had for many guys before. Nothing was really different until he opened his heart and mind to me. That made the difference. That was the plan, Cashmere’s as much as mine. It worked beautifully, but this sure wasn’t the result we expected.”

            “Me and Katniss, our relationship went in the opposite order,” I replied. “Other than that, I’m with ya. And the Capitol offering two victors was smart, but Cato was smarter than that without realizing it.”

            “This face launched a lot of trouble,” she said while pointing to herself with an air of satisfaction. “He set off a revolution while trying to save me, makes a girl feel good.”

            “And the baby?” I wondered.

            “Also part of the plan. I realized it was the right situation,” she crisply acknowledged. “Wasn’t on birth control and wouldn’t lie about that of course but he didn’t think to ask.” Then she said something that was too close for comfort. “I had always wanted a daughter because I love my little sister so much.”

“I wish Katniss thought that way,” I said tearfully.

“The odds will be in your favor someday,” she said cheerfully.

 

Once we made it to the dining hall, one of the people from our meetings finally introduced himself. “Dalton Oakley. I made it all the way here from District Ten.” He was warokign at central command instead of taking to the field. I shook his hand. He presented me with a red flag that featured a blue X with thirteen white stars. “It’s an ancient symbol of rebellion in our district. From long before Panem at least.”

“That is ancient,” I told him.

“Bear it with you when you go off to fight this rebellion. Would that I could hoist it over the District Ten _‘Justice Building’_ myself,” he said.

 

            The families didn’t all live together, but we did eat together. I overheard a loud conversation at the Shinesmith table. “I will take the gray,” Lustre said confidently of putting on a military uniform at her tender young age.

            “I just got done worrying about my other daughter!” Sunstone shouted.

            A nearby District Thirteen native spoke officiously. “She’s just turned fourteen, yes, but it’s a legal necessity - the emergency necessitates loosening the definition of ‘child soldier’.”

            “I was fourteen for my Games,” Finnick stated. “If that’s old enough to win them, it’s old enough to help bring them down,” he announced.

            Cato offered more support for the idea. “Career training helped the Capitol produce soldiers. Let’s turn that against them.”

 

            On the training field the next morning, I saw Lustre with a group of other young recruits – they were engaged in some sort of exercise that combined formation training with physical conditioning. Katniss, Cato and I had something like that in the afternoon, but we were headed to an advanced rifle shooting lesson for now. I was doing well, but Cato was even outshining Katniss, let alone me.

 

            September began with a meeting that also had Ma, Ingrid and Haymitch in attendance, yet it was no simple friendly discussion – it seemed as serious as our previous slate of government meetings so far, especially since it called for Coin’s presence. “We have intelligence that the Capitol is reinforcing the District Twelve Peacekeeper force in a few days’ time,” she announced. “A regiment instead of a battalion.” _I remembered recent training lessons on our enemy – this meant well over a thousand instead of a few hundred._ “We need to seize that opportunity, evacuate your district’s people before it’s too late.” It made sense that Coin needed District Twelve natives as expert advisers, but I think she bristled at having to respect us. The planning meetings and accelerated training made those days somewhat of a blur. Slowly the mission took shape. We put vivid descriptions to the rebels’ basic maps of our district.

“Our current Peacekeeper force is lax and the new guys certainly won’t be,” Haymitch announced.

            “Yeah, Cray takes ‘looking the other way’ to a whole new level,” I agreed.

            “And we have to look the other way while he fucks desperate young girls,” Katniss muttered. I saw Abernathy glaring at her.

            “Soldier Everdeen, underage prostitution is not our concern right now,” Coin snapped.

 

            District Twelve women may grumble, but tolerating the practice had avoided even further Capitol oppression until now. It would be easier for the guys to tolerate that. I purposely changed the topic. “Many of the rank and file are friendly to us, which might lessen resistance.”

“I doubt y’all wanna operate at night or strike while there are men in the mines,” Haymitch suggested. “So that leaves a short window around sunrise or sunset.”

“There’s a meadow in the middle of the district,” I pointed out. “That seems like an excellent place to organize, especially if we can get the fence out of the way. It usually isn’t electrified, but the Capitol might make an exception for this.”

“We were already deploying a scout and vanguard to interfere with the train station should Capitol reinforcements arrive; that unit shall also be ordered to deal with the fence,” Coin replied.

“Plenty of hovercraft to evacuate everybody,” I demanded.

“We’re only making one trip,” Coin said to state the obvious.

Plutarch backed me up. “We only have to move them for 45 minutes.”

“And unfortunately they don’t have many material possessions to bring with them,” I followed.

“Madam President, the plan does call for a particularly strong attack force,” Plutarch stated. I could see why. It would keep a small force from being ambushed by a stronger-than-expected Capitol guard. It would be an easier victory against the expected level of resistance. The Capitol could buy the bluff and think rebel forces are stronger than they actually are. If the Capitol counterattacked, whether against Twelve or Thirteen, we could easily retreat.

“Are we sending the trainees?” I wondered.

“Especially the trainees,” Coin answered. “We need them too, and whatever the subject one is trying to learn, there’s no substitute for actually doing it. We’ll keep barebones defense and headquarters forces here with the civilians, but that’s it.”

 

I stowed Dalton’s flag in my left knee joint in place of a plain cushion. I had pieces of string threaded through the grommets in case there was cause to actually use it as a banner. Rory’s work washed up faded but still quite legible, and it was relatively undamaged. I fit it between the two layers of real armor on my upper right arm. The skin under it was unbroken, more than could be said for much of the rest of my body. Our physical wounds from the arena had been healing quite nicely – as for the mental wounds, who knows?

 

Some other victors were glad to fight but did not want to wear the reminders of home that had become reminders of their arenas. I wasn’t the only person to embed a flat sentimental object there, or the only victor to reuse a token. Many had found a place for their trinkets in this arena as well. Katniss pinned the mockingjay near her collar again. Cato’s gold was already on our fingers. Wiress, a District Three woman who won the year before Haymitch, wore a bracelet that looked like an exposed circuit board. Cashmere and Gloss had patches of her namesake fabric in pockets of the uniform’s utilitarian synthetics. Finnick carried the same blunted hook that Mags had also used more than a half century before him. Brutus had a stone with the District Two seal carved in it. Emerald had won a few years after Haymitch, and she bore a ring with her namesake stone; she’d given a similar piece to Glimmer, but that had been confiscated for concealing a poisoned spike. Emerald had another copy for Cato to present to Glimmer.

We were not issued pistols, but many of us carried blades as sidearms. I clipped that knife onto my belt yet again. The machete was his wife’s specialty, but Cato was no stranger to it, so he gladly took the blade and found a sheath for it.

 

We would be promoted at least temporarily for the mission to our home. Thirteen’s commanders decided to spread us out and augment our units with native soldiers and some of the motley crew of rebels from other districts. Katniss and I would command small groups of infantry; Ingrid was assigned a similar role with District Thirteen doctors. My fireteam was composed of Cato, Lustre and Johanna; Katniss would be serving with Finnick and District Thirteen’s Leeg twin sisters. We were to be led by Lyme, who was backed up by Brutus and three of the natives. Ma and Haymitch would serve in the rear areas.

 

            We still weren’t sure of the attack time, yet we needed to be ready at a moment’s notice, so for now we were bunked near our comrades and our gear. I was separate from Katniss – this avoided stirring up jealousy in our comrades, and after all, we weren’t being deployed in the exact same unit. Rory, Vick, Posy and Prim would be staying with Glimmer for the duration. “After all, we’ve trusted her with Lustre for years,” Mink insisted.

            The alarm sounded in the predawn hours of the 11th. As we marched to the hangars, it still felt odd to see Lustre here with Cato. Today, she was a comrade marching into battle alongside him. Twenty-three days ago, she was a little girl riding on his shoulders.

            We consumed packs of field rations during the flight to Twelve, as was the plan. While nervously gnawing on a cereal bar, I thought _This is the moment, not just for the personnel on this mission, not just for District Twelve, but for all of Panem._

 

            “Arrival in District Twelve imminent,” barked the intercom. We picked up our weapons and loaded full magazines, then picked up stacks of several more magazines.

            “We’re covering the mine entrances,” Lyme ordered. “Soldier Everdeen, take the east entrance. Soldier Hawthorne, you’ve got the west. My team will stay in reserve in between them.” I heard some other orders over our twelve yes ma’ams. Wiress’ team would finish clearing the fence obstacle. Emerald, Cashmere and Gloss were amongst those covering the Merchant Section, Lotus and Hook amongst those working in the Seam.

 

            We clicked off our weapons’ safeties while exiting the hovercraft; the immediate vicinity of the transports was clear. We were back home, but we had been told over and over to not dwell on that and do our duty.

 

            Haymitch was right – we didn’t want to attack with miners down below. Even if the Capitol didn’t trap them, the damn creaky old elevators would slow their escape. Right about now, the miners would be starting their slow walk towards the depths. Father had said that no miner ever truly lost the fear. His fate had shown that was with good reason. He had said that even a hint of carelessness would make the work even more dangerous. Probably preparing me for the day when I would have to enter the mines, which would have been right about now – the autumn after my last reaping. He had been such a brave man, and those pits scared even him. We were here not only to avenge those like him but also to save others from a similar fate. We deployed as Lyme had ordered, running towards the mines at full speed. We were well ahead of the usual influx of miners.

 

I saw a boy and girl near the rock pile, their mouths locked and their hands elsewhere. I knew how that worked. “It looks like we have a new King of the Slag Heap. Him and his latest loyal subject ought to get running to The Meadow,” I announced. I recognized the boy as one of older Mellark brothers, but the girl was some townie I didn’t know.

“Never thought Hawthorne would settle down…going!” he said, pulling the girl with him. Joking though he was, he understood the severity of the situation.

 

When the miners saw our squad, I could tell that their grim determination loosened up. That was part of the idea, to show our familiar faces. “Hawthorne!” one of them cheered. The mine entrance was guarded by a couple Peacekeeper sentries and had an anxious foreman peeking through the entranceway.

As planned, the squad had split into three by this point, so I was the one to give orders. “Adams, take the left, Shinesmith, take the right.” The guards wheeled towards the noise, but promptly caught three-round bursts in the neck between helmet and bodysuit, where we knew there was a vulnerability in the armor. The foreman was wearing what were basically mining clothes; I gave him a bullet to the chest. Cato had told me he hadn’t killed anyone before the arena. This was Lustre’s first, as well as another for us, but there was no time to dwell on it.

“Good riddance to a bad bastard!” the same miner yelled. “Hell, I think McCallahan was the same one who had sent your father to his death,” he continued, and I kicked the so-called man’s corpse as a further act of vengeance.

 

“District Thirteen is real, and is our path to freedom!” I shouted. “We’ll take you to safety there,” I insisted. Some miners took what cover they could while others ran directly for the meadow and the hovercraft. I figured people would be skeptical, but trust the returning hometown heroes instead of leaving themselves to the Capitol’s definition of ‘mercy’.

Twelve’s Peacekeepers rallied to the disturbance. We took shots into the approaching formation and they returned the favor. I felt winded as some bullets crashed into my body armor, but Johanna was wounded with a shot to the elbow. “We need backup, infantry and medical, at west mine entrance,” I barked into my communicuff.

Lyme’s group rushed to join us before we were surrounded. They couldn’t really fire while they were in a full run, yet once they stood next to us and brought their five rifles to bear, we were only slightly outnumbered. Lustre had understandably had the worst stress reaction. For now, she had been both intimidated and emboldened by the arrival of these initial reinforcements. Johanna had been injured in her nondominant arm – she was shooting with one hand while using the outcroppings of the rock pile to support her weapon. However, she was weakening, and was left exposed by having to slightly distance herself from the rest of the group. One of Lyme’s backups, a middle-aged woman whose name strip identified her as Jackson, covered Johanna’s flank. Two older men, a Mitchell and a Homes, were on the other side of our formation.

I saw in the distance that more Peacekeepers were approaching our location; Mitchell, Homes and Jackson shot into their formation while the other six of us engaged the remainder of the first squad that had been sent at us. The last of their band seriously wounded Homes then Mitchell as they fell.

 

            The sentries and the first squad were all unfamiliar people to us – many District Twelve didn’t patronize the Hob, whether out of personal preference or due to higher loyalty to the Capitol. However, we saw many familiar faces in the second wave.

            Our Head Peacekeeper had finally found the motivation to do his job. “What are you waiting for, Soldier King? Shoot them!” Cray ordered Darius.

            “Damn it, _sir_ ,” he hissed. “I’m not going to kill a friend!”

            High officers like Cray carried pistols instead of full rifles, and he drew his on Darius only to find one of those full rifles pointing at him. “I won’t either,” its holder called out, a woman from the Hob I knew as Purnia. “Platoon, stand down,” she ordered. Many of our Hob friends started murmuring their assent. They chose to rise and do what’s right, joining up with the returning natives for the fight.

A man with similar rank insignia to Purnia opened fire anyway, nervously joined by some of his subordinates. Lustre and Darius shot him at the same time. That’s how it was, those sick of the abusive might joining ranks against those still following orders from the bent regime. A battlefield was always chaos, but even more so right now as some changed sides and some didn’t.

Our reinforcements had held their fire while this group of Peacekeepers sorted itself out. Some physically came over to our side, and were glad to join the shooting in our favor. A few, notably Cray, at least kept their guns silent.

 

The remaining loyalists, surrounded, fought fiercely, leading to dozens more dead on all sides. The fanatics were too preoccupied with their own defense to butcher civilians, but many were certainly caught in the crossfire. I gladly poured a full-auto stream of lead into those that stuck with the Capitol even now. My squadmates laid down cover fire for our medics’ sake. Homes’ and Mitchell’s wounds looked very serious and Johanna’s not that severe, but they were all moved towards the hovercraft.

 

            I saw some hovercraft take off and shimmer into invisibility, already full of refugees.

We left the enemies’ bodies behind but carried our own. For the fallen of either side, we removed their weapons and gear before we moved out to The Meadow. There we met with our comrades and found out what had gone on elsewhere in the battle.

            With reinforcements from both sides rushing to my location, it had quickly calmed down elsewhere, although that easily could have happened in reverse. Katniss’ skirmish at the east entrance had hardly been uneventful. One of the Leeg sisters fell to a sentry more alert than ours. After her twin avenged her, the other guard surrendered.

A group of Peacekeepers elsewhere had shot many of the Hob traders as they fled. “Not Ripper!” _Typical Haymitch._

 

Ma and Haymitch had been spreading the word through the Seam. Ingrid had been doing something similar in the merchant section. Over the din I heard my mother-in-law say “Melody? It’s Maysilee’s old friend Ingrid” to a frantic woman. The mayor’s wife had never been the same since losing her twin sister to the arena nearly a quarter century ago. Ingrid was trying to calm her, old social graces as well as a healer’s gift. It wasn’t working. Yet the mayor had proved that he really was on our side – although the Capitol eventually got word, he had stalled some attempts to call for reinforcements. His daughter was also escaping the district – lately I respected her more for giving the pin to Katniss, but I still felt distant from the comfortable town girl.

 

Ingrid turned to a new patient, a young Seam woman who was in labor. Her name was Ellen Flowers, not someone I knew particularly well. Midwife and patient were two of many now retreating to the waiting hovercraft. I saw the blood and heard the pain, but there was plenty of that today, and at least hers was natural instead of unnatural. My team moved into position guarding the path - most of the Peacekeepers had converted, surrendered or been killed, but there were still a few roaming around.

            “It’s a girl,” I heard Ingrid say over the crying.

“Her name is Mockingjay,” the new mother announced. Katniss reflexively touched her now-famous pin.

“Who’s the father?” Ingrid said to ask an obvious question.

“Don’t know,” Ellen Flowers answered. “I went to Cray, but also a bunch of other guys.”

 

From the sky, we saw a train in the distance. The Capitol enforcers had arrived just too late as more and more of our hovercraft left. Madge was on the last one, with us. She was the closest thing Katniss had to a friend besides myself and our families. She said, “Katniss, there’s something I have to say, and I don’t think words will suffice.” She leaned in and put her lips right on Catnip’s. “I just had to know what that was like,” Madge said as she smiled. “Though you already found someone, I figured you should know just how much I liked you.”

I was also shocked, and decided to take the high road. A petty jealous rage would endear me to no one, least of all Catnip. “You like women? Well, you certainly have good taste in them,” I said to compliment both.

 

We saw a short blond boy with a tall raven-haired young woman. “Peeta Mellark, I’ve never seen you with a girl until now,” Katniss observed.

His voice morosely rang out. “It’s a long story, a very long story,” the baker’s son admitted. That story began with “Margaret Undersee is not the only one who had waited too long to confess love for Katniss Everdeen.” He faced Katniss directly and said “I loved you ever since school, ever since the bread, yet I never said it. When I saw the truth of you and Gale, I was depressed over losing the girl I had never tried to win. I darn near killed myself,” he said to continue his speech.

“Channel your passion into life instead of death, and may the odds be ever in your favor,” I offered.

Peeta soon finished a sketch and passed it around. “I call it _The Stolen Kiss_.”

“Mellark, this is brilliant, but would you mind not broadcasting it?” I asked.

The subjects of the drawing both chimed in with an “Agreed”.

 

Throughout all of this, Ingrid had been preoccupied with cleaning up mother and child. Ellen sat back down cradling Mockingjay while Ingrid went off to attend to someone’s conventional wounds. When Ellen had to get up to use the bathroom, her benchmate Peeta was only too glad to hold the little girl. She came back from the privy to find a young man gleefully cooing over a baby not related to him. Bridget smiled as she watched her boyfriend do this, and they were hardly the only ones to find their spirits lifted by the newest resident of Panem. The newborn certainly seemed to speed up the trip back to District Thirteen.

 

            We had saved all but a few hundred of the district’s nine thousand residents – even if the new Capitol enforcers were not intending to slaughter them outright, our people were saved from a rather perilous situation. This was a major accomplishment in and of itself, but Peacekeepers switching sides was gold – a moderate tactical victory and a major propaganda one.

 

            Since Cato and Finnick had spouses back at base, we let them off the transport first. Glimmer and Annie were of like mind, near the front of the crowd in the hangar. As Finnick picked up his bride, she said “I’m pregnant already” too quietly for the whole hangar to hear, but loud enough for my hunters’ senses to pick up.

            He somehow managed to draw her even closer and I overheard him say “I’m sure it’s a beautiful little fishy swimming around inside of you.”

            Glimmer must have done Posy and Prim’s hair while she was staying with them. Posy was so excitable, she almost worked her way out of my grasp. “Glimmer loves bright pink too!” my sister squealed.

Indeed, Mrs. Adams had practically covered Miss Hawthorne in that color of cloth. “Most girls do, though some like Katniss are special,” I told my youngest sibling.

Rory was gazing at Prim’s new intricate braids. “He already understands the value of his girl getting beautified,” Glimmer joked.

“That kind of growing up I can deal with,” I responded. Left unsaid was the reference to _her_ sister, now with combat experience.

Glimmer had also kept Vick and Rory from injuring themselves or each other while goofing around. Ma and I, and Father before us, would agree that’s no easy feat.

 

On a more somber note, I pointed out “We rescued many orphans, whether or not their parents had died before this battle.”

“We should have no trouble finding homes for them,” Dalton figured. “The Capitol’s subterfuge included biological attacks that left many of the survivors sterile, and many of those would be glad to take in these children.” The man leaned in to whisper to me. “They want all these refugees for breeding stock. It reminds me of when I was working on the ranches in Ten before I escaped here.”

“That explains a lot, sir,” I responded.

 

“Don’t regret it. You stood behind your principles, so you can’t lose,” I said to one of the doubtful ex-Peacekeepers. “And the Capitol would not react kindly to your hesitation or ‘failure’ anyway.”

“Your tactical input will be valued,” Coin told Cray, “and what you did was out of our jurisdiction, but I don’t want to see you with underage girls over here, got it?”

Someone in the armory was relieved. “Peacekeeper service rifles and ours both take 6.59x42mm cartridges.”

 

Here, townies were not treated better than our fellow Seam folk, much to the consternation of some of the former. I wanted to tell them to shove it, but I reminded myself that the Capitol is the enemy, not other districts or other parts of the same district. Many of our district’s poorest were experiencing the first decent housing and meals of their life. Whatever Dalton said, we were being welcomed, that’s for sure.

 

“Now we have nearly ten thousand more mouths to feed,” the kitchen warden complained.

“We’re used to hunting for a much smaller crowd, but we’ll do what we can,” Katniss said.

We had retrieved some of the items we had hidden in the District Twelve woods. Katniss would be most comfortable using her old wooden bow, and the smaller one would be better for teaching Vick. The same bow Katniss learned on would be an auspicious start indeed.

            When we got back from that trip, Greasy Sae and Rooba were working in the kitchen, as expected. “Here I am about to prepare the proceeds of a Katniss and Gale hunt. The more things change, the more they stay the same,” Sae announced.

 

            September 12th would become known as Registration Day. Much of this was paperwork expected of moving into District Thirteen. Dalton was right – many adoptions were set up. More than two thousand District Twelve natives and the hundreds of turncoat Peacekeepers swelled the ranks of the District Thirteen military. Ingrid, while signing Mockingjay’s birth certificate, joked “Have you ever had to deliver a baby in the middle of a war zone? No? Then don’t tell me your job is difficult.”

 

            Peeta seemed to have a gift with words, so in retrospect it was surprising he hadn’t managed to say any to Katniss. He would work with the rebel propaganda teams instead of enlisting. He seemed too damn pure and soft for combat anyway. Glimmer was limited to a base job anyway, but she seemed to have a gift with people that went beyond charming boys.

 

Ellen had a sister Anna that had evacuated on another hovercraft. Madge liked visiting the baby named after the pin she gave Katniss. This day, Miss Undersee found the newborn with Anna.

“Where’s the rest of your family?” Katniss asked of the two Flowers ladies.

“Our father died in the same mine explosion that killed your father,” Anna answered. “Our mother starved and we nearly did – Ellen went to men in town, I just had no knack for that, I scraped by on odd jobs.

            They weren’t the only other December 25th 69 orphans here. Jack Barton’s father died that day, and then his mother and grandmother in an accident on September 23rd 73\. “A real accident and not something the Capitol made to look like an accident,” he said. Jack then had discovered the woods on his own – I wondered how we could have missed him, but at least the Capitol was also unaware of his activities.

 

It would be a challenge to integrate the new evacuees and the defectors with those who had already been present in District Thirteen. “It’s a good problem to have,” many of us said.


	5. Tunnels Of Thirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slices of the evacuees' life in District Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Previously In Fanning The Flames: Cato, upon seeing a threat to Glimmer, refuses to fight Gale and Katniss. The four make clear gestures of rebellion and join together against arena hazards. The four of them and their families are evacuated by rebel hovercraft to the still existent District Thirteen. The two couples share a wedding date with fellow two-victor couple Finnick and Annie. Rebel forces save most of District Twelve’s population.

            “We found love in a hopeless place,” I explained. Katniss and I had already been well known around District Twelve, so after these recent events, we were even more popular, and people especially wanted to hear our stories. “In fact, love helped make it a less hopeless place.”

            Some other people had stories for us. Bread boy, for one. Peeta was with Bridget amongst the small crowd surrounding us. “I loved Katniss too, but the odds were more in Gale’s favor on that,” he announced. “He understands what she did because he did the same. This is a poem not about them as lovers, but rather about what we thought of their sacrifice back home.”

            Bridget pulled out a fiddle from behind her back. “My grandfather and I set it to music. Beautiful words my flour friend wrote,” she said as they smiled at each other. “Gale, thank you for confessing your love for Katniss first so I get to have raisin roll here instead,” she continued while beaming at her boyfriend again. _I understood why they wouldn’t discuss the suicide attempt publicly._

            “In that part of life, the odds were in her favor, not only one but two boys who love her dearly,” I responded. _And one girl._

            “Anyway, here’s the song,” Bridget answered. She drew the bow across the strings, and she could sing as beautifully as she played. “ _You took your siblings’ place – the arena you now face._ ” “ _Against starvation and Snow you rebelled, not cut low._ ” Back in the meadow fields, they hoped for us, hope brought by the mockingjay’s wings.

.

I saw a Town woman amongst the crowd and she approached Ingrid. I suspected that it was one of her long-lost relatives, and that was quickly confirmed. My mother-in-law was having none of it – good for her. “Sarah Kolster,” she sneered. The maiden name had grown awkward on her tongue in the nearly two decades since she’d used it. “You come to me days after my daughter’s wedding after having ignored me since my own wedding.”

“If that’s the kind of child that man gave you and raised … I must have been wrong about him,” she said awkwardly.

“That girl is not a forgiving sort, I would know, but maybe I am.” She called Sarah a mother, Sarah called her a daughter. As they embraced for the first time since she’d been disowned, Ingrid added “You should see the other daughter - _that_ one’s turning out just like her mother.”

“Including a taste for Seam boys, apparently,” Sarah responded. I suppose Prim’s grandmother, not being blind, certainly would have seen Miss Everdeen and Rory inseparable.

“Well, that,” Ingrid acknowledged. “And she does look just like how I used too. But more importantly, she’s growing up to be quite the healer.”

.

            “I gotta talk to you above Everdeen girls,” Rory said to me the next day.

            “A lot of people, especially me, wondered when something was going to happen between me and Katniss,” I told him.

            “I didn’t think about that until this started, but we definitely saw you two get married,” he answered.

“That was the idea, for everyone in District 12 to see it,” I told him. “I don’t think anybody expected you two to start dating, though,” I continued.

            “It’s because of something nobody expected. We all would have been so happy to get just one of you back, and then everybody went crazy about that announcement. Me and Prim had already been waiting together – that night, I held her hand and told her she was cute,” he said triumphantly.

            “I bet she liked that,” I answered. _It was damn sweet, but us guys don’t gush over that like Prim probably would. And that kind of thing wasn’t Katniss’ style, which had presented me with a challenge for years._

            “Heck, she kissed me. She touched my lips, though I think she was just trying to brush my cheek.” No wonder he was so happy about that.

            “She’s a smart girl, she knew what she was doing,” I guessed positively.

            “She already knew she loved me?,” Rory guessed. “Mommy said I definitely loved that girl, so guess what? The next time I saw Little Duck, I told her!”

            I had to cheer him on for _that_. “Way to go, Little Man! Heck, you’re so my brother that you’re in love with the sister of the girl I’m in love with.”

            “Well, Prim said I reminded her of why Katniss likes you. We were with each other all day on Vick’s birthday. I kissed her outside her house, and I’m pretty sure her mommy was smiling at us. After school, she went with me to the bakery to buy him some cookies. Me and Prim fed some cookie pieces to each other. We thought cleaning off the crumbs was another excuse to kiss.”

            I laughed as I told him “I don’t think two people in love need excuses”.

            “Like being in your big brother and big sister’s wedding together?,” he wondered.

“I totally saw that. At least you didn’t put your tongue in her mouth or your hands on her rear end, unlike some couples we know,” I joked.

“I definitely saw Cato and Glimmer do that.” I pointed out that we all saw that, and he continued with “What, you’re not supposed to do that?”

“Oh, it’s really fun when you’re old enough, but I think you shouldn’t be like that if there are so many other people around,” I explained.

.

            Speaking of Cato, I saw him in the tunnels outside our apartments. “My mom’s getting along quite well with your and Katniss’ moms,” Cato said to me.

            “Makes sense,” I responded. “They may have started out different, but ended up in much the same place – the fathers of their children died too young and those children nearly met that same fate.”

            “That of course,” Cato agreed. “Also, my mom and Mrs. Everdeen got to talking about how beautiful they were back in the day.”

            “Yeah, I’ve seen the pictures – Ingrid the shapely blonde, Teresa in shape plain and simple.”

As much as Cato liked rifles, he wanted to try bows too. He was a natural at that as well. As Cato got better at archery, we figured his arm strength could be used to draw back some incredibly powerful bows.


	6. Lying In Wait

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With District 12 wholly supporting the rebellion, Capitol and rebel forces begin fighting over the other 11 districts with both words and actions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Previously In Fanning The Flames: Cato, upon seeing a threat to Glimmer, refuses to fight Gale and Katniss. The four make clear gestures of rebellion and join together against arena hazards. They and their families are evacuated by rebel hovercraft to the still existent District Thirteen. They share a wedding date with fellow two-victor couple Finnick and Annie. Rebel forces save most of District Twelve’s population, and the evacuees begin a new life.
> 
> A/N
> 
> The song idea is old; this was just my first chance to reference it. A version of the lyrics was my first fic; another version is one of my recent fics. I started new stories instead of making a quicker and longer update of this. The conversation with Rory was inspired by having covered it from Rory’s perspective in my new story Not So Little Anymore. Reaping Beauty focuses on female-female relationships; I was perhaps inspired by the Madge coming out scene late in Chapter 4 of this story. The Twelve Kingdoms is a Game Of Thrones crossover; I’ve been occupied by that series in general.

            I looked up to see the televisions showing clips of our wedding, the exchange of vows in particular. The _We will’s_ rang in my ears as sweetly as they had three weeks ago. However, this broadcast was ironically not the rebels’ doing. I heard Snow’s vile voice cut in to harangue the nation again. “You just heard the most worthless thing in the world – the promises of traitors – for in their betrayal, they have proven they cannot be trusted. Who will they turn on next? Each other? Expect the sham to fall apart as surely as the rebellion itself shall disintegrate.” _Don’t you dare insult my love for Katniss. You snake, you always manage to find a way to make me hate you even more._ Then the bastard read my mind. “They may crow about loyalty to their families, their lovers – but that optional loyalty is nothing compared to the mandatory loyalty all owe their country. Sadly, they have chosen what they want to do over what they must do. Only scum would take such lazy immorality to such a level. Treason does not merit death, treason is death – we will deliver it if the disloyalty continues.” _Oh well, I was already incorrigible, you slimeball._

He faded out – whether that was intentional or the work of rebel hackers I don’t know. Most Capitol propaganda was about intimidating the average citizen. This broadcast did that to some extent, but seemed to mainly be about sowing dissension amongst those who had already turned rebel. It tried to take away the momentum the resistance gained from the wedding, and it distracted from the liberation of District Twelve. The rebels advertised the people happy in District Thirteen. They broadcasted all of Peeta and Bridget’s song, which had a bit of militancy to it before the actual military activity – the new soldiers training to put their righteous anger into action, the Peacekeepers casting aside their white uniforms to put on gray ones.

Snow must figure that lambasting the ‘fall’ of Twelve would only draw attention to our greatest success in the war so far. There were more such victories to come.

 

The next morning, Plutarch spoke at the start of the council meeting. “Napoleon Bonaparte, one of the many brilliant generals from long before Panem, once said ‘An army marches on its stomach’.” he announced. “It’s as true now as it was over six centuries ago. The Peacekeepers are no different.”

“I think I know why, sir,” I answered.

“Go on, Soldier Hawthorne,” he replied.

“Twelve’s Peacekeepers tolerated our illegal activity partially because it meant more food for them too, not to mention a soldier needing to keep their strength up for battle.”

“Yeah, morale and logistics in one handy phrase. For us, that places a high priority on liberating Four, Nine, Ten and Eleven. Circumstances call for Ten first – the local rebels are particularly active.”

I’d keep my plans for Dalton’s flag secret for now, but I said “I trust we’re striking at the key facilities in the district. I’d volunteer for the Justice Building detail.”

 

Beetee and Wiress weren’t the only rebellious District Three victors; some of the others had just been extracted from their Victors Village. Most of the present victors, including myself, went to the District Thirteen hangar to welcome them. Beetee was a fairly old man. I noticed his glasses and wondered if his eyesight had weakened with age. His hair was also fading with time, but his upper lip more than made up for his cranium. He wasn’t the only victor with facial hair. Catnip didn’t care since I was still the same Gale underneath – well, she doesn’t like to shave and I don’t either. However, Glimmer was even more attracted to a bearded Cato.

 

An old man with a long gray beard addressed Beetee as “Bernard”. _I suppose ‘Beetee’ meant that B and T were his initials and this is what the first of the first letters stood for._

“Dmitri,” Beetee answered, giving the other victor’s name. _As part of my general distaste for the Games, I hadn’t paid attention to such things._

After the introductions, Dmitri delivered some news about the District Three evacuation. “Nathan still believed the Capitol’s lies, even once that boy named after him died in the arena this year. He killed Marie to prevent her from joining us. Regina had to kill him to escape. Silica also made it out.” Like most victors, the two young women were easily identifiable, even more so in a small crowd such as this.

 

The victor soldiers had been grouped fairly close together for the liberation of Twelve, and this was intensified for the mission to Ten. Our unit was assigned to the force attacking the Justice Building, as per my suggestion to Plutarch. Johanna’s arm wound was worse than we thought; she certainly wasn’t ready to go back out into the field. Regina took her place. Silica, like many from Three, was clever but not soldier material.

The surviving Leeg, while heartbroken over her sister’s death, insisted on returning to battle. Her fireteam included Lustre, Jack Barton and Cecelia’s husband Alexander in a squad commanded by Jackson.

 

We deployed to District Ten a week later. I understood that we were flying over District Eleven, but the invisibility shield that kept others from seeing in also kept us from seeing out. The pilots had feeds from small clear sensors so they weren’t flying blind, but we were riding blind.

 

“Shit, I thought they’d drop us off at the top of the building, not the bottom,” I muttered.

“Guess we’re fighting our way in, not out. Go go go,” Lyme barked. She shot the lock open and pushed in the damaged door. The Capitol must not have had advance intelligence of our strike; it was easy to take the few guards in the building by surprise. In the rush to the roof, we swept only the areas near the staircases; we’d clear the rest of the building later. At the top of the stairs, there was a hatch that was easy to bust open, and we emerged onto the roof. It was flat and covered in black asphalt shingles. There was a concrete ridge around the edge with drainage holes. It was embellished near the front. That was near the base of the flagpole. I whispered to Lyme, and she announced “Strike their colors.”

“We haven’t won yet,” Brutus observed.

“Not seeing the Capitol flag would embolden local rebels,” Lyme countered. “Soldier Hawthorne, get those things down,” she ordered. I was glad to comply and rushed to the flagpole. I looked around to see most of my comrades with rifles rested on the ledge. There wasn’t much to shoot from up here; Katniss was the most successful at sniping what few targets there were. The flag rope was secured to a hook near the bottom of the pole. I untangled it and began to pull the flags down – one bearing District Ten’s seal, a cattle head and crossed knives, was under one bearing the Capitol seal, both brown on a tan background. The flags were clipped to the rope. Cato detached the district banner while Finnick removed the Capitol one. Hook presented both of them to Lyme, and she slammed the Capitol seal onto the ground. I pulled Dalton’s flag out of my knee cushion and ran it up as quickly as the others had gone down. Its blue X crossed out its red background as surely as we hoped to end Capitol bloodshed.

We found no one else on the first few upper floors, but soon stumbled into an ambush. The non-victor squad was first into the room and took the brunt of it, eight of the thirteen gone in moments. Lotus was the first of our squad in as the survivors of their squad fell back. The water flower bloomed blood. Her district partners Hook and Finnick flew into a rage, using the butts of their guns to bludgeon the wounded Peacekeepers. We ambushed another group on the floor below.

Further on our way down, we found a treasury room that was no longer guarded, and liberated several sacks of Capitol coins.

There were no other incidents until we got down to ground level. Peacekeepers in alternate uniforms emerged from the basement surrounding a small group of civilians. Katniss led the effort to pick off the guards but not their charges. One was a fat woman in regalia I recognized from the Undersee house back home – we had captured the District Ten mayor and her family, a husband and several children of similarly large size. I grabbed ‘Miranda McGraw’ by the collar and started yelling at her. “Fuck you. You stuff yourself while ruling over a starving populace.”

Once we were ready to leave, Leeg kicked the main door back open only to receive a leaden greeting from Peacekeeper reinforcements. The sixteen of us remaining quickly took cover, under windowsills for the most part, and promptly mowed down the squad of white-armored government thugs. Thirteen lives ended, just like that, in a river of blood on the steps. Sadly, it was quite simply better them than us.

Katniss held a dying Leeg as the life faded from our District Thirteen comrade’s yellow-flecked eyes. “I’m sorry,” Catnip stammered.

“Don’t be. I caught them before they caught you. Tell my father I died alongside the only brothers and sisters I had left,” she answered before dying.

 

We walked out into a burning landscape, bodies of rebels, civilians and Peacekeepers littering the streets. District Ten only ever had four victors. Wyatt had won a very early Games and had died of natural causes years ago. Belle and Bill mentored this year, and were in Capitol custody. The other was another Annie. We saw her running towards the Justice Building with what she could carry. She followed us towards the train station. Many poorer refugees joined us.

 

Sure enough, Capitol air forces eventually arrived with intention to bomb this district back into submission, but it wasn’t going to happen. Hovercraft had to drop their shields for an attack run, and we were more than glad to pour small-arms fire into their weak points. Rebel planes more than countered what we couldn’t shoot down from the ground. However, we couldn’t evacuate the citizenry the way we had in Twelve – the district was way too large and there was too much Capitol interference.

 

We finally made it to the train station. The converted Peacekeepers had deployed in District Thirteen uniform, and had done an excellent job securing the train depot. They had interrupted the export of supplies to the Capitol, and those trains could be redirected to District Thirteen. The tracks ran through District Eleven, so we’d liberate that district next.


	7. Hammer And Anvil

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Previously In Fanning The Flames: Cato, upon seeing a threat to Glimmer, refuses to fight Gale and Katniss. The four make clear gestures of rebellion and join together against arena hazards. They and their families are evacuated by rebel hovercraft to the still existent District Thirteen. They share a wedding date with fellow two-victor couple Finnick and Annie. Rebel forces save most of District Twelve’s population, and the evacuees begin a new life. District Ten is the next to be liberated.
> 
> A/N  
> I revised the Chapter 6 scenes of District Three evacuation and preparation for the attack on Ten.

The Capitol was caught between a hammer and an anvil, and it was time to strike while the iron was hot. We had just hit the Capitol hard in District Ten, and the District Eleven riots were getting even further out of control, so it was time to press on towards Eleven. Thirteen’s native reserves and Ten’s local rebels would hold the livestock district while the bulk of rebel forces, including Victor Squad, would head into the agriculture district.

 

We now had District Four surrounded – its only land border was with District Ten. We obviously couldn’t secure its massive coastline, but the boats in the District Four fleet were designed for transporting small amounts of seafood, not massive amounts of people. Besides, while some other districts had coastlines, they didn’t have ports – the Capitol usually took District Four’s catch away by rail, and we had blocked that off. Our forces would watch the skies for any attempts to relieve District Four by hovercraft.

 

            Peacekeepers had poured into Ten from other districts in an unsuccessful attempt to repel our attack. District Twelve’s ex-Peacekeepers had captured many empty transports during their raid on the train station. We’d fill them with rebels and reroute them to District Eleven. This would free rebel hovercraft for other uses, and would add to our element of surprise.

 

            These trains were simple mass transit to freedom instead of luxury personal transportation to prison. Those differences were lost on none of us, whether we had escaped that prison just over a month ago or 34 years ago.

 

Chaff was too wrecked for the battlefield, Seeder too old. Many of their comrades were either or both – some victory! The real triumph would be the end of the Games and the Capitol’s other cruelty, and I gladly stood with the other young and healthy victors to lead the charge.

 

They were the only living District Eleven victors, so there would be no reprise of evacuating the District Ten Annie. Annie Hickok was relatively safe hidden in a train compartment. She stayed silent of her own accord, but the District Ten mayor and the family thereof had to be restrained.

 

The 12th Peacekeepers still could fool Capitol forces before being specifically identified as The Rebel Unit. Purnia explained our presence as loyalists retreating from the ‘disaster’ in Ten. The guards opened the gates and our train cars came pouring through. We could have rammed the gate, but the lead train and its occupants might not have taken that well and that would have made it harder to get more trains through. It would have cut into the element of surprise, announcing our presence once the train sped up outside the district rather than once we arrived at the train station inside the district. Besides, the Capitol had probably fortified the gates against very much that.

 

These fences were much taller than ours, presumably always electrified, and they were topped with vicious razor wire interspersed with machine gun nests. We had tricked our way in, and immediately blew our cover. Lyme, Brutus, Finnick and myself stuck rifles out of hatches in the top of the train car. This gave us a good angle to shoot at the sentries on top of the nearby section of fence. Katniss, Wiress and a few others leaned out the windows to throw explosives at the gatehouse. Hopefully we took them out before they could sound the alarm.

 

            District Eleven was so large the Capitol had divided it into sub-districts called zones. They were north-south thirds of the district. Zone A was in the west, closer to the Capitol. Also, reading left to right, it made sense to have A on the left. Zone B was in the center, Zone C to the right and east.

 

The 11th Peacekeepers were notoriously strict, and the zone borders were certainly part of their brutal control of the territory. People of different zones were kept as thoroughly separate as people of different districts. Even for the Games. Each zone held its own reaping, and the mayor picked A, B or C at random to determine which zone’s tributes would actually suffer for the resistance decades ago.

 

Each zone had a third of the district’s Peacekeeper force. Capitol military units, not to mention ours, were usually built out of three subunits anyway. Even with reinforcements, each portion of the force had only a couple thousand soldiers to deal with tens of thousands of people who were mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. So the locals had most of the warmakers pinned down as we sped through the district.

 

Throughout most of Zone A, we just shot at Peacekeepers from the train windows, using the body of the train for cover. The Capitol was finally being outmatched by the masses of unarmed people; its forces were falling apart in the face of equally-armed opposition.

 

The wall between Zones A and B was almost as imposing as the outer border of the district. The guards were gone – perhaps killed, perhaps transferred to the futile lead-based crowd control efforts. _Well, if the populace had to be met with a hail of live ammunition, the shooters’ cause was already futile._ However, the gate still stood. The victor squad was amongst those in the lead car, with the converted District Twelve Peacekeepers right behind us. Purnia came racing towards the front of the transport. The train screeched to a halt, and she grabbed for the top of a seat to steady herself. “Perhaps even us ex-Peacekeepers can still figure out the security system,” she explained.

“May the odds be ever in your favor, Lieutenant Artemis,” Lyme responded. My commanding officer’s language was deliberately ironic – we had just passed a large gray building, and the wall facing the tracks bore the graffito ‘The odds are never in our favor’. Those red letters, bold as the person who wrote them, spoke the truth. There were no Capitol soldiers in sight, but the victor squad looked at Purnia to provide cover fire if necessary. She jumped off the steps between the lead car and the locomotive; she rolled to a stop in the bare dirt that surrounded the tracks. We watched anxiously as she fidgeted with the gate controls. _Every second is another second for the Capitol to catch up with us._ The gate soon slid open.

Purnia jumped back on the train and it took off while she was still on the platform between our car and the engine. We started celebrating once she made it back into the car. “Yeah, it hasn’t changed too much in the last two weeks,” she explained.

 

Now we were in Zone B, about the same population as A and C, but with many of the central buildings and personnel. Also, this year’s tributes happened to be from B. As with Ten, we couldn’t do a mass evacuation of civilians like in Twelve, but we could at least get the Mackeys and Claytons. Katniss was the person they’d most want to see, but Cato was someone they’d obviously want to avoid. We’d at least keep that confrontation until after the battle. Regina wouldn’t cause any ill will, but she didn’t have much combat experience yet. She had done well firing from the train and would continue doing so. Finnick and Wiress were detailed to my unit. Lyme was purposely keeping the force small.

 

The train came to a more gradual stop at the station in the middle of Zone B – close to the buildings we were trying to secure and the people we would help liberate, away from the border fences. Shooting from the train had cleared the station and its immediate vicinity. My unit had its own separate mission, but most of the rebels disembarked from the train along with us.

 

Many broken windows, overturned objects, charred buildings and even dead bodies remained from previous rioting.

 

The ex-Peacekeepers headed to the main government buildings, wearing standard District Thirteen uniforms. The only physical distinction was the slightly different design of their old Peacekeeper service rifles; fortunately, those weapons took the same ammunition. Brutus led Cato, Hook and Emerald into the field; Lyme, Gloss, Cashmere, and Regina were the only victor soldiers left aboard.

 

We headed out to patrol the residential areas looking for Thresh and Rue’s relatives. Katniss and I moved as two parts of one being, in this urban hellscape as well as in our wooded paradise, while Finnick and Wiress followed. These dwellings made our shacks look good by comparison, and I yet again found myself even more disgusted at the Capitol. Some contained the very young and very old hiding from the riots, but none of them were Thresh and Rue’s relatives, so the occupants cheered our presence and waved us on.

 

Then I saw a mob on a street corner surrounding a squad of Peacekeepers. The citizens were armed with tools they had turned into improvised weapons – shovels and rakes and implements of destruction like iron rods and scrap lumber with nails still in it. I saw a short bald man with very dark skin, apparently very strong judging by the way he was grappling with a Peacekeeper. As soon as I had a clear shot, I took it. _How do you like facing equals instead of beating down civilians?_ Several of his squadmates wheeled towards the noise and we ducked. A bullet skipped off of Wiress’ circuit-board bracelet. However, the Capitol enforcers could now be caught off-guard by the citizens. A stocky young woman slammed a piece of scrap metal into a Peacekeeper’s visor. _Serves you right, all the nightsticks you’ve probably swung at her or people like her._

 

            Those two people had special reason to detest the Capitol – they were Rue’s father and Thresh’s sister. _Excellent, we found both families at once._ Once the Peacekeepers were killed or subdued, Katniss took off her helmet, swished her long dark braid and whistled – Rue’s four-note tune from the arena. As the crowd whistled back, even some of the hardened resisters broke down and cried. The sentiment only intensified as Katniss was the first to raise a District Twelve respect sign, familiar to District Eleven and the rest of Panem thanks to Katniss’ funeral for Rue.

 

            “Seems y’all were doin’ a nice job of liberatin’ yourselves but could use some help,” I drawled. “Rock Clayton? Raspberry Mackey?” I called out.

            “Yes?” they answered in unison.

            “We’re here to rescue you and your families,” I said to explain our orders. “Unfortunately, we don’t have room for everyone,” I added apologetically. There was no time for the dead to get a decent burial either. The rest of the crowd peeled off, perhaps emboldened to seek out other targets. A few took handguns from the dead Peacekeepers, which would help with those targets. Raspberry took another and finished off a wounded Peacekeeper at point-blank range. Ms. Mackey stood by Katniss’ side with it as Mr. Clayton stood by my side with another.

 

            There was no time to talk as we ran to the Clayton residence. “Willow!” Rock shouted to his wife. “The Mockingjay lives, and she’s helping us get out of here!” Three boys were out the door first, one about Vick’s age and two about Posy’s age. The twin girls, of an in-between age, were hiding behind their mother.

            Willow looked at Katniss and choked out a few words. “You showed my daughter love when she was surrounded by hate. Thank you.”

            “You’re welcome, Mrs. Clayton,” Catnip answered.

            “Her district partner and your husband too,” Rue’s mother added.

            “You four meant a helluva lot to the whole zone, the whole district, the whole country,” Rock said aggressively. “Finally, a critical mass of people realized enough was enough!”

            “Exactly!” I said to agree in a tone of voice that matched his. “Capitol oppression had been setting up a fire, and we were the spark.”

            “Now the whole country is burning,” Raspberry realized. “And I have someone to drag from the flames.”

 

            Raspberry led the way to her family’s house, only a few blocks further away from the train station. Katniss and I were behind her. Finnick, Wiress and Rock were in the rear with Rue’s mother and siblings in the middle of the formation. The house contained only an old lady. “Thresh’s grandmother, I presume?” I asked of Raspberry.

            The hunchbacked old woman spoke up for her. “Pear Mackey indeed.”

            “Now where are the father and mother?” I wondered.

            “In the ground,” Pear croaked back in a voice full of rage. “My daughter-in-law Diane died birthing that wonderful boy and girl, my son Flail died in the fields a year later. So when you said your father and hers had died in the mines, you had me.”

            “Too many people have felt too much pain because of the Capitol, so of course they would understand. Now we need to get out of here and fast,” I replied.

            “These old legs don’t work too well no more,” she explained.

            “I’ll carry you, ma’am,” Rock offered, handing Katniss his pistol. Katniss shook out the magazine and cleared the chamber, pocketing the now clearly unloaded firearm. She showed Raspberry how to load the model, using the cartridges that had been unloaded from Rock’s gun.

 

            We headed back the way we came. We had cleared the area, and no Peacekeepers had reoccupied it, so we indeed didn’t have to fight our way out. Our train was still waiting on the tracks, and one of the soldiers still aboard flashed us a safe sign. We all stepped up and walked into the train car; I noticed Lyme sitting on the first seat clearing a jammed gun. “Lieutenant Colonel,” I said and she looked up. “Corporal Hawthorne reporting with all three of his soldiers and all nine of the high-value civilian targets.”

            “Good shooting, soldiers. Show them to Annie’s compartment,” she complimented and ordered.

            “Rue’s father and Thresh’s sister were found in a rioting crowd. We finished off a squad of Peacekeepers and captured two handguns. No other disturbances.” Katniss reported. She and Raspberry presented the weapons.

            “Good. And I could use those. This rifle’s fucked up good, I’ll need to have one of the gunsmiths back in Thirteen take a look at it.”

 

            Another crew stepped aboard the train. “Lieutenant Colonel Walter Cray reporting with prisoners.”

            “Traitor!” the lead captive muttered. He was a middle-aged man, and from the looks of him, we had captured another mayor. “Peacekeeper acting against mayoral office without warrant,” Mayor Harvest Blade continued.

            “Gag them and put them with the others,” Lyme ordered. Cray dragged the man towards the improvised cell for the similar people we had captured from District Ten. He had a wife Orchard about the same age, who was being more cooperative with Purnia.

            Their one child, a son Harvest II, was taking after his father. “Shame such a pretty girl like you is such an ugly traitor,” he spat at Lustre. Lustre Shinesmith certainly wasn’t bulky enough to restrain a hostage, even one her own age. That duty fell to her squadmate Alexander Weaver, Cecelia’s husband.

            “They answered our call for reinforcements. We sustained heavy losses storming Peacekeeper headquarters,” Purnia explained. “Soldier Darius King was among the fallen. I know y’all liked him. We all did. At least he died on the right side, he said,” she said, passing along what may have been the spirited young redhead’s last words. “General Claudius Domitian and his adjutants were wanted dead or alive. They’re all dead” she said to explain the fate of Cray’s District Eleven counterpart.

 

            It was uneventful ride to the fence between Zone B and Zone C. The train slowed down to blast the gate and its guards and then rolled along into Zone C. The plow on the front of the locomotive pushed away some of the scrap metal from the gate.

 

            Here, there were still riots going on near the tracks. Most of the people here had olive skin and black hair that made them look similar to us Seam folks. This was no surprise considering that Zone C was right on the border with District Twelve. Come to think of it, Seeder shared the look, and had also been from Zone C. However, the important buildings in Zone B included Victors Village. We took clear shots on the surrounded and outnumbered Peacekeepers when we could.

 

            We were on 11’s southern rail line, which connected it to 4, 10 and 12. However, another set of tracks in the north of the district connected it to the rest of the country, and each Zone had secondary lines connecting the two out-of-district ones. Capitol reinforcements came from that direction with a twisted imitation of our train-tank tactic, mowing down rioters even more ‘efficiently’ than the forces on the ground could. Our train abruptly stopped before the intersection so we couldn’t be sideswiped.

 

            We exchanged some shots but neither side could do any serious damage to the windows or metal walls of the other. Grenades rolled under the cars and locomotives weren’t powerful enough to do much damage either. Those explosions likely would limit the trains’ ability to move at high speed but they didn’t do much to interfere with the stationary and slow-motion form this battle was taking.

 

However, we all had to crack windows to get weapons out. A stray bullet came in through one of our car’s firing slits and felled Jackson. Her blood began slicking up the metal floor of the train car. One of our soldiers from the relatively inactive other side of the train immediately crossed the aisle to take her place in the firing line. Katniss and Cato were the only soldiers on any side having any luck making a habit of it. That took some pressure off the rebels; myself and some other soldiers were able to unleash a grenade barrage on the wheels of the side of the enemy car closest to us. The train car slumped as the bogies fell apart from the force of the explosions.

 

Our train moved forward into the intersection, giving us an excellent angle to shoot at them with as many guns as possible while they were stuck at a poor angle with few guns in range. They would be even more thoroughly defeated if they got off the train, but we eventually subdued them as they stayed aboard. When their guns fell silent, we confirmed it by throwing grenades through what remained of their windows. I didn’t want to see the bodies – I had seen more than enough today, scattered all over the ground of this district. Essentially none of them were from the Capitol, mostly young men from District Two who believed the propaganda and folks from District Eleven who couldn’t avoid the ugly truth. Killing people was more different from killing animals than I thought, but it was becoming all too easy, with Snow at the end to be the easiest.

 

Our train limped westward and the few surviving rioters waved us on with the gesture that Katniss had made famous for Rue. As many of us as possible pressed to the windows to return it. At the border, the populace had already knocked the gate down for us.

 

            District Twelve was a no man’s land. After the evacuation, the Capitol left it alone because there were no people to subjugate under Peacekeeper boot, no products of slave labor to loot. Perhaps they wanted to use it after the war – I know the rebels did. I know we didn’t have the heart to destroy the home that some evacuees wanted to return to.

 

As the train passed through the territory, I gazed out at the abandoned buildings. I had no fondness for the shacks we were forced to live in. I still felt contempt for the relatively nice houses in town and the people who had lived in them; I had to tell myself to direct that anger entirely at the Capitol where it belongs.

 

We finally had a chance to talk without having to scream over explosions. “Love is all we had out here, and it’s what we used to strike back at them,” Rock observed. “Even them relatively rich white kids from out west figured it out.”

“Even I’m glad they did,” I replied.

“Shit, even though they were the ones to kill my girl and Pear’s boy, I know it’s really the Capitol’s fault. And hell, it usually takes folks much longer than 17 or 18 to realize the error of their ways and do something about it,” Rock admitted.

“I’m not sure what him and Glim would have done if they won alone, but if it was just me and Katniss, I would’ve raised the same hell for Thresh, Rue and all the others, past, present and future,” I declared.

“I initially was just thinking about Prim,” Katniss admitted. “I was struggling to get food, clothes and shelter for us in that hellhole; Gale’s dreams of freedom were beyond the scope of my thought process. Then I decided to stay here and cause all sorts of trouble. I finally wanted to do something about our prison, free all our people from it, shoot the bastards that kept us there, and make them burn with us.”

“That’s the spirit!” I shouted to cheer her on before launching into my own monologue. “There was no way to work within their system. They taught us to see each other different, the slightly less poor folks in another district or elsewhere in the same district. Those aren’t our real enemies – even I had to learn that. Our real enemies are the folks we couldn’t see because they were hiding in the Capitol, a handful of high officers, not the average brainwashed soldiers who number in the thousands. 77 token victors didn’t change the fundamental reality, not to mention the 1723 slaughtered in the arena and the tens of thousands who fell to the Capitol’s other abuse.”

Raspberry caught the spirit too. “And if only one came back like usual, even if it was my brother, the same intolerable things may have kept happening. Now, it seems that the few of us here happen to prefer lovers about as dark as ourselves. Katniss’ momma and daddy felt different and that’s fine. Anyway, I can still recognize Glimmer and Cato make a wonderful couple. If I had that kind of life waiting for me, I would have done it too. That’s the sad thing about all this, the Capitol monsters turned all of us into monsters.”

Hell, the whole damn car was cheering us on. “Sounds like one hell of a rebel propaganda broadcast,” Lyme said to congratulate us on our little conversation. “Because it was. I put you on the radio feed back to Thirteen, and they sent it out live.”

 

            After the Capitol’s surface-level destruction of District Thirteen, they hadn’t torn up the railroad leading there. Maybe this was intentional in case they had felt the need to facilitate a ground attack on the district. However, they obviously hadn’t maintained the tracks, and the survivors of Thirteen hadn’t either. It was part of their deal with the Capitol to appear silent, and they hadn’t had the manpower for it anyway. That quickly changed as the cold war became hot. We were greeted at the border by freshly repaired tracks; District Thirteen mechanics had been involved in a flurry of activity. The train could still travel over them, although even slower than we had been going. Some of the hangar had been converted into a train station and it was full of people cheering the return of us bedraggled survivors.


	8. Odd Homecomings

            “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world shall know peace,” read Peeta’s father from an old book. “Four hundred years ago, music was revolutionary, and it still is. Jimi Hendrix, the man I quoted, did things with a guitar no man had before. You whistled a simple tune for the District Eleven girl but the quote holds true all the same,” he explained to Katniss.

 

            This Leeg’s body was cremated and the urn placed next to her sister’s in the District Thirteen crypt. Katniss recounted the fallen soldier’s last words to cap the eulogy, looking directly into the eyes of the father of the young woman. “She said she was dying alongside the only sisters and brothers she had left. I am proud to have been one of them.”

Several other fallen from the recent battles were interred soon after. Soldiers from other units simply filed through the crypt. “Such losses are sadly necessary to win this war,” Coin told the stream of soldiers.

 

            To speak of life instead of death, we summoned the Flowers girls. “Lieutenant Colonel Cray, now I have some news for you,” Coin said as Ellen walked in cradling Mockingjay. “You are the father. Yeah, we put the standard DNA samples to use.”

            “It was bound to happen eventually with all those girls I had in my bed,” Cray admitted.

            “You have no interest in a child and Anna and I seem to be doing fine taking care of her…,” Ellen stated.

            “I could tell Anna was one for a two-mother family,” Cray interrupted. Anna herself was actually the one who laughed the loudest at this.

            “Yet now I demand a serious amount of money, not just a handful of bronze pieces,” Ellen declared.

            Cray muttered something unintelligible, and one of the District Thirteen officials reminded him that “You’re getting off easy on this and related issues”.

 

            Rock Clayton and Raspberry Mackey were the only two of the recent evacuees suitable for military service. They relished taking their service oaths and Katniss relished administering them in the presence of Boggs, one of Coin’s top military advisors.

            Most of the District Twelve enlistees were serving superbly. They brought the converted Peacekeeper unit back up to full strength after its losses, and there were District Twelve field troops scattered throughout other units. Many of those not deployed rendered invaluable service back at the District Thirteen base. Madge and Anna were even shaping up to be good hovercraft crew. The Mellark bakers provided very useful aid to our food logistics, and that reminded me of Plutarch’s speech on the importance of those supply lines. Peeta aided in that work sometimes.

            However, bread boy had hardly foregone his propaganda tasks. One of my next rants turned more levelheaded for the actual broadcast as he helped me polish it. It addressed Capitol residents directly. “The money feels good, and your life you like it well. Snow and his ilk have blinded you with luxury. If you don’t open your eyes, surely your time will come, but we will welcome in peace those who mend their ways. After all, our escort, stylists and prep teams are consummate Capitolites, and look what they’ve accomplished.” I neglected to mention that Cinna was a rebel plant. To the Capitol, it looked like he simply got caught up in being too good at his job.

 

We escorted the bags of coins from District Ten to a District Thirteen vault, incidentally the same place where our wedding rings had been forged. The District Thirteen authorities found Capitol currency quite useful for financing clandestine rebel activities, and this was hardly the only time when it had been confiscated as a prize of war.

Glimmer’s father hadn’t worked at the District One mint, but thanks to his hometown milieu, he understood the process better than we did. Mostly fresh-struck, they had been delivered to District Ten for the October 1st payday, so they were being opened on time, although in an unexpected location.

When the coin sacks were opened, I noticed they were of the usual metals and sizes, and most bore the seal of the local district on the back. I understood that was common practice – standardized coins with localized designs. It was a petty way in which the districts were separated, and the far more substantial divisions meant we rarely ever saw anything else. I had usually been too preoccupied with scraping together a few dirty corroded bronzes to notice what was on them, but I occasionally saw some shiny Capitol pieces via Haymitch.

Annie Hickok’s victor winnings were included. It was both rebel and loyalist policy to continue the payments to those on its side. That was one thing I agreed with Coin on, not punishing the arena victims further. Many victors had donated some of their winnings to help finance the rebellion, but that was becoming less necessary with this haul and our other victories. Katniss, Cato, Glimmer and I were considered victors, and what I held now I would have been lucky to make in a year. We were given disbursements to carry to the other victors, and the rest was locked in a safe. After we made the deliveries, we headed right back to our compartments.

 

Once we were alone, I wrapped my arms around Katniss’ waist, which I hadn’t done in far too long. I looked around to see Katniss smile, and I dipped my hands lower. “Oh, this is right where my hands belong, feeling up the most beautiful woman in my world.”

“I know how much you love me, I can feel it…” _Very funny, Catnip_ , I thought as I felt something large press up against the small of her back. “…but I’m no Glimmer,” she admitted.

I spun her around, running my hands underneath her waistband as I turned her. “Eh, she’s the prettiest in Cato’s mind, like you are in mine. You’re at least as gorgeous as her in your own way. If not more so. Don’t you ever forget it. I won’t.” The praise her radiant body richly deserved got her right back in the mood, and my fevered kiss neutralized what little remained of any hesitation. My hands went further south, bringing her pants down with them. I felt her arousal through her underwear. I took my time pulling those down as she walked backwards to lean against the dresser. I stayed kneeling, and did not take my time to start ferociously tonguing her. She quickly became so delirious she could barely even croak my name, but I heard the ‘Gale’ chant as loud as thunder.

I leaned back and kicked my legs out, lying on the floor, arching myself just high enough and for just long enough to strip below the waist myself. Our shirts were still on, but had become more than open enough to see what was worth seeing. She sat on my chest, rubbing her juices on my abs and feeling my cock against her back. She didn’t want me to enter her just yet, but I was more than happy to suck on her firm little caramel breasts. When she did climb on me, the cold stone on my back was no matter as the hot flesh on my front was more than enough to make me explode almost instantaneously. “I needed you bad, Catnip, and I made sure to take care of you first, and that’s what took care of me.” She slid back to tongue my member right back into service so I could take her on the floor, and I serviced her again, that’s for sure.

 

Next morning, the schedules sent us and the rest of the elite squads back to the command room. “To surround and lay siege is a story of war as old as humanity,” Plutarch intoned.

In securing two of Panem’s breadbasket districts, we had blockaded the other two. “The blockade of District Four is especially thorough; the 4th Peacekeepers will have to capitulate soon enough. At only regiment strength, they definitely wouldn’t be able to break out. That seems like a small force for such a large district, but it had been relatively peaceful even considering the Odairs. Besides, the people of Panem had forced the Capitol to focus its attention elsewhere.”

“However, District Nine is getting some resupply through District Eight. This will not do. Weaver, you’ll be having an odd homecoming, but that’s where we’ll be headed next.”

 

            “The western districts are cracking. They’ll shatter soon enough. Then we liberate District Two and the Capitol. Our strategy seems to working beautifully, its implementation a masterwork by you and our other boots on the ground and in the air,” Plutarch went on.

 

            After a few days back on leave, we were back on the trains. Alexander helped us navigate his home. Lyme introduced us to her counterpart. She was a few years older than us, but still very young for the role. However, she spoke with an authoritative tone indicating she deserved it. This was the first time we met with the local rebel commander upon arriving in the district.

 

District Eight was an industrial wasteland, and it looked like it had been that way even before the Capitol warmakers burned out buildings. At least some of the other districts were out in the open in nature, however hard the people there were worked. Sneaking into the woods, I knew how important that was, and the people here didn’t even have that escape valve.

 

            I was surprised to see some key facilities such as the train station so damaged. It seemed rebel saboteurs had been particularly active. The Capitol wouldn’t sabotage its own infrastructure unless they deemed the district a lost cause. Either way, it was shaping up to be a rebel victory, however bloody.

 

            Then a fleet of Capitol hovercraft showed up to make it simply bloody. They made short work of our scout craft and started bombarding the ground – many of the few buildings that remained standing until now finally fell.

 

            “Dammit we need more air support!” Lyme barked into a radio. Our strong infantry presence wasn’t doing any good. I couldn’t hear the answer, but Lyme’s order indicated it wasn’t good. “Retreat! Let’s see how high speed these trains are!” Alexander was shot shielding the retreat of his squadmates, us and the rebel commander.

 

            “May there be no more victor widows,” Lyme said to Cecelia.

            “Fine by me,” Cato said. Finnick and I joined him in the black humor.

            “May there be no more victors, and no more dead tributes either,” I added.

 

            Many of us had some odd homecomings these past few weeks, and now it was time to take it to the enemy’s captured stronghold and then their home.


	9. Eye of the Storm

It was a horrific loss to be sure, yet one lost battle was hardly the end of the war. Capitol propagandists thought otherwise, seizing on the one serious setback to the rebels to date. “The tide has turned against the traitors!” Snow insisted. It was all too easy to remember his words. The clip played over and over.

 

            I felt the need for a response broadcast. “They destroy whole districts! Such people cannot be reasoned with! We’re far past the point of continuing to accept our chains, or even having that option. The only path is to help scour that evil from our country once and for all.”

 

            There wasn’t much left in District Eight. It was a brutal tactic, to retreat after carrying away or destroying anything the enemy could make use of. It seemed the Capitol was partially withdrawing from some districts to fortify District Two and its own city for the battles we all knew were coming. Rebel intelligence indicated similar drawdowns in One, Three, Five, Six and Seven.

 

However, the infantry presence hadn’t been minimal enough for Alexander Weaver. He helped hold off the Peacekeeper remnant as we evacuated. His body fell back towards us as it went lifeless, shielding us in death as well as life. Brutus happened to be near him at the time, and let his rifle hang loose from the strap so he was able to sling the body over his back. Even the hundreds of pounds of corpse and gear seemed like nothing to him. Rebel commander Lisa Paylor joined us in the frenzied dash to the trains.

 

            Brutus and Lisa would be the two leading pallbearers. We’d make a show out of the funeral, oh yes we would. When Lotus was interred, we shocked the Capitol with the images of losing one of their heroes. Cecelia was more than willing to echo that procedure to hopefully forestall further carnage; the determination shone through her tears. Alexander was no victor, but still fairly well-known to the residents of Panem. Gloss stood towards the back of the coffin, for once standing next to someone besides Cashmere, in this case my fellow Seam man and Alexander’s immediate comrade Jack Barton. Cato and I carried the middle; I brushed aside the edge of a District Eight flag to grasp my handle.

 

Madge and Anna had recently been issued their aircrew uniforms and stood somberly in them at the edge of the field. They served as navigators on separate hovercraft. The four of us were hardly the only couples to have both members in uniform, but Katniss and I were the only one to be deployed together.

           

Lustre wasn’t that much older than the deceased’s firstborn, and the two sat together during the ritual. Bridget used her fiddle to bring forth an appropriately somber tune. Alexander would be one of the few buried instead of cremated; Coin led the way upwards to the little cemetery on the District Thirteen surface. Lotus would hopefully be exhumed to rest next to District Four’s other fallen tributes, but it seems there wouldn’t be much of a District Eight to return Alexander’s body to.

 

We still had to worry about the mentors in Capitol custody. The Capitol kept broadcasting mock executions, and we wondered when they would actually pull the triggers. Generals Vander and Travers expressed willingness to do that personally. I did not want to know what Snow thought of behind the screens, and we couldn’t tell what exactly was causing their haggard look.

 

“Districts Eleven and Ten became infested with treason despite us holding their beloved,” Snow harangued. “I’ll make it clear. If Nine rises against us, Harvest dies.” He did not mention not having Winnow in custody, and we didn’t know where Ms. McCormick was hiding either. Winnow and her fellow fugitive Stephanie had not been in on the rebellion, so they hadn’t run to rebel plants in the Capitol. “The others shall also face punishment for the crimes of their districts.” The District Thirteen policy was to not bow to hostage-taking barbarians, brutally realistic I thought. The freedom of thousands should come ahead of the lives of one or two, and we hoped the hostages thought the same if the Capitol hadn’t beat it out of them yet.

 

Heavensbee had a plan for extracting them. Coin, rationalizing that the idea was to rescue victors and not harm them, ordered us to not participate in the mission. As such, we weren’t privy to most of the details. I gathered that rebel plants would blow their cover and disable prison security systems. Boggs would have the tactical command in the field, and picked several more native District Thirteen soldiers to go with him, including one Mars Tredecim. Rock and Raspberry were fresh out of training, but we wanted District Eleven locals to get Seeder’s attention. Dalton Oakley would finally deploy, for the sake of _his_ district’s victors. District Twelve would hardly be unrepresented in mine and Katniss’ absence. Jack Barton was one of the commandos; Margaret Undersee and Anna Flowers were both part of the flight crew delivering the group to the Capitol and bringing them back. I offered a blessing as some of the team left for the hangar. “I wish I could be there with you. Go get ‘em”.

 

Katniss left the crowd more quickly than Cato or I did. “She seems frigid for a Girl on Fire,” Cato joked. _At least he had wisely kept his big mouth shut until it was just us guys._

            “Most anyone probably seems that way compared to Sir Fucks-A-Lot here. Eh, we’re all happy.”

 

            The mission was only a partial success, and it sounded harrowing to accomplish even that much. They had grabbed Woof first – his cell had been reasonably accessible, and Cecelia didn’t need to see her old mentor dead so soon after her husband. It seems he hadn’t been in good shape even before the Capitol tortured him, although that may simply have been old age. He barely remembered the woman he had guided back home and whose marriage certificate he had signed fourteen years ago. Rock, Raspberry and Dalton all went right for their districtmates as planned, helping reassure the prisoners that it was a genuine rescue and not another Capitol trick. They also got Pike from Four, and he went right to congratulate Finnick and Annie, kissing their rings. Johanna, tough woman she was, wasn’t so emotional about being reunited with Pine, but was relieved to see the familiar face safe and sound all the same. However, the rebels were chased out before they could rescue Harvest along with Justin and Megan of Six. For the next Capitol propaganda broadcast, those three were publicly executed for the treason of aiding the escape attempt.

 

            Johanna was still somewhat incapacitated by the injury she had received in the liberation of my district, so she was unable to attend to the liberation of her own. As such, the powers that be found no need to deploy the rest of Victor Squad either. Thanks to the disaster in Eight, we weren’t able to surround Nine, but rebels based in Ten and Eleven were eventually able to push into Nine without our personal help. Four surrendered soon after, likely because the rebels in Ten could focus even more on Four without having to worry about the Nine border. Six, Five and Three also did not need a visit from us. One was inbetween Thirteen and Two, but since it was right next to the Capitol and not too much of a threat, we didn’t focus on it.

 

            “Victor Squad, your next mission is to District Two. After the Capitol lost this base, they built a new fortress in the mountains there. That must fall before we can strike at the Capitol itself. For this, Lyme is a particularly fitting commanding officer, and we’re especially glad to have Brutus and Cato on board.” Myself, Katniss, and Finnick made six. Glimmer’s allies Emerald, Cashmere and Gloss made 9. Wiress, Hook, and Regina brought us to 12. With Johanna’s injury, we were still under-strength.

 

            A force of loyalist victors led the Capitol’s defenses. It was the Capitol’s attempt to counterbalance the propaganda value of our squad; since we hadn’t seen much action in the western districts, we hadn’t encountered them until now. “Pearl, you’re about to pay a great price,” Finnick muttered as he aimed.

            Cato spoke much louder as he set his sights on Livia, a woman with a typical District Two look. “Hello. My name is Cato Adams. You killed my father. Prepare to die”. She’d killed her district partner Julius Adams to become the fifty-fifth victor. “Oh, it was the Capitol’s idea, but you swung the sword. I cast mine aside.”

            After a moment with no repentance to be had, they fell as Brutus killed his former friend Enobaria. Shielded by cover, we took only minor wounds from the return fire as they retreated back into the Western Fortress.

 

            We had District Two’s fortress surrounded. It seemed like there was no way for them to break out, but also no way for us to break in. We got to thinking on our side of the problem when called away.

 

            Chrome was ready to deliver District One to us. He was Gloss and Cashmere’s father, yet another victor, and he led the District One rebels. Victor Squad’s presence was important not only for the family reunion, but also for the diplomacy of clearing out the rest of District One’s Victors Village. Chrome’s father Facet was himself a victor; Gloss and Cashmere had made it clear that family tradition drew them to the arena, but I hadn’t been aware of how far it went. Their younger brother Shine had even been prepared to volunteer next year. The two of them were safe. The old man Platinum and old ladies Opal and Diamond had been compliant in Chrome’s custody, but had been killed in a Capitol raid that Chrome and his family had barely avoided themselves.

 

            Chrome said that Sapphire was supportive. _Her bra was very supportive_ , I thought to myself before I corrected. _Cut it out, Hawthorne, your wife is right there!_ She won in 71, after I met Katniss but before I fell in love with her, and Sapphire’s beauty had been my main exception to not caring about the Games. The blue fabric stretched tightly over her ample frame won her whatever sponsors her swordcraft hadn’t. Appropriately, I heard the sound of steel leaving scabbard as we knocked on her door. “Imma take some of you down with me!” she called back.

            “That won’t be necessary, Sapph,” Cashmere answered cheerfully.

            “Ah, you’re rebels,” Ms. Silversmith said, opening the door. “Now let’s march to the mayor’s office and secure that secession.”

            “Nice blade,” Cato said.

            “Ah, I see. With the wife you got, you’re one of the few men who has no need to stare at _me_. I always wanted my fellow District One ladies to win, but especially her, she’s something special.” Glimmer would love to hear that; the victors of her youth had been a huge influence on her.

            Her sword was about four feet long, a big sword, but not compared to its bearer at well over six feet. I rarely saw men as tall as I am, let alone women. It was definitely a woman’s blade, though. The hilt was painted a blazing pink, shaped like the symbol of the legendary female Venus, a glyph that had become representative of women generally. The weapon was named _Amazon_ , after a legendary tribe of woman warriors – not even fighting on equal footing with the men as in our world, but fighting by themselves. I think Cato’s was similar, except not with countervailing masculine adornment, being a plain arena piece.

 

            Ruby and Star, both middle-aged women, were back in District Two with the ‘True Victor Squad’. We flew back into the eye of the storm.


	10. Nutcracker

            We still held air superiority around the fortress in District Two, yet it turns out our rebel comrades had been busy while we were gone. Capitol forces had attempted a breakout by air. Only a few of their planes had managed to run our hovercraft blockade. The transport bringing us back to Two did not have its invisibility shields up, so I got a full view of the landscape.

 

            Fortress schematics were chief amongst the valuable intelligence Plutarch had gotten us from the inside. I had them running through my mind during the less-critical stages of the District One mission. In short, they were a painful reminder that the Capitol is evil but not stupid.

 

            During the Dark Days, rebels had taken District Thirteen from the inside. There was no chance of that now. The Capitol was especially careful about the loyalty of the personnel they assigned there, and by loyalty I mean the degree of effectiveness of their brainwashing. The discipline was even more strict than usual. Plutarch had managed to get some spies in, but nowhere near a critical mass.

 

            After the Capitol lost Thirteen, it needed more than lightly fortified ground bases out west. Thirteen really had mined graphite despite its concealed main purpose as a nuclear weapons facility. Two really did produce stonework despite its hidden function as the Capitol’s general military nexus. One of the biggest exhausted quarries had been turned into the fortress we now faced today

 

            Lyme had said that the Hunger Games had been her only way out of the quarries, yet she was still a stonemason’s daughter. Damn it, they were Two’s Seam and the military infrastructure Two’s Merchant Section. However, here the downtrodden people were outnumbered in addition to being trampled on by the Capitol boot.

            Lyme had deployed along with a few covert operations specialists when the time was right. Victor Squad was many things, but we were very overt, so Lyme had gone alone.

They nevertheless flocked to Lyme when their hometown heroine returned to help them rise up. They were only able to secure the outlying parts of the district, but they had proved more than able to hold the line until the bulk of rebel forces showed up, including the rest of Victor Squad.

           

            The rock was too thick to blast through with conventional explosives. Only nuclear missiles could crack the outside of the mountain or the ground and upper levels above the heart of District Thirteen. Neither side dared take that step, some of the little sanity that had been demonstrated during the slaughter of the past couple months. What point would it serve to rule over charred bones and cooked meat?

            The Peacekeepers inside the fortress needed to breathe, but the air vents were the most heavily fortified part of the complex. We could bomb down the shafts, but the bottoms thereof were strengthened against exactly that. All of the entrances made for a horrible ground approach – forces trying to storm the gates would be channeled into chokepoints where they could be massacred with impunity. The Capitol understood the natural barrier of the western mountains, once equally unimaginatively called the Rockies. It was, from a tactical perspective, how they had won the first war, and it wouldn’t be how they’d win the second. “No more talk about storming the entrances!” an exasperated Lyme yelled after another tense, fruitless planning session.

            “Well damn, ain’t this a tough nut to crack!” Plutarch shouted back. ‘The Nut’ _was_ catchier than ‘The Western Fortress’ and that’s the name we ended up using outside of the most formal written dispatches.

 

            Lyme had beautifully represented Two’s lower class. Brutus and Cato were similarly emblematic of the district’s supposed elite, although the real elite were the of course Capitol masterminds. Their presence helped encourage much of the population to not oppose our push closer to the fortress. They had it better than most folks in the districts, so they had needed this push towards rebellion.

 

            Cato’s mother was now in uniform somewhere, but incognito to help protect other tribute relatives. She had come with us willingly. “Although not as quickly as I would have liked!” Lyme had muttered once. However, for all the Capitol knew, she could have been abducted, and played nice for her son’s wedding.

 

            Cato’s grandfather had long since accepted his son’s death and distanced himself from his grandson’s treason. _Or did he just tell himself that as a coping mechanism?_ At any rate, he sure presented himself as a loyal ex-Peacekeeper, whether he meant it or not. He was one of many District Two men with a wife several years younger. Her father had been a Peacekeeper too, one of the tens of thousands of Capitol rank-and-file during the Dark Days. That was the man Cato had been named after. It seemed he was mending his great-grandfather’s misdeeds in spectacular fashion. Clove’s parents were another ex-Peacekeeper with a years-younger wife. Cato had told everybody the name of Clove’s sister during his arena rant. The Hawkinses had one son before their daughters Clove and Flavia. Alexander was an active duty Peacekeeper, having enlisted right when he came of age after last year’s reaping. Publicly he presented himself as a loyal servant of the Capitol, with a grudge against his sister’s killer on top of that. Yet he knew who was really responsible, and we had another inside man.

 

            I marveled that it had already been two and a half months since our last day in the arena. It had certainly been the most momentous few weeks in the nation’s history. There had been no turning back since we ran our mouths on the arena floor. Now let’s make it only a few more weeks to finish what we started.

 

            The Capitol forbade Peacekeepers from marrying or having children, to prevent loyalty to a new family. However, they could only do so much about loyalty to birth families. Someone had to raise their slaves, whether blood relatives or not, people who would be attached to each other, not their government. After all, watching relatives suffer at the Capitol’s hands was how so many of us grew to hate the big city that ruled Panem with an iron fist.

 

            Over the course of the next few days, the late autumn snows began to fall. There were mainly flakes at ground level, no serious accumulation, but higher on the mountain, the snow was really piling up. I recalled the view from the air and I finally had the trap I wanted to bring.

            “Now bombing the mountain would do some good,” I began. “It should trigger an avalanche and clog the air vents with snow.”

            “He has found it!” Plutarch shouted.

            “A way to basically trigger a mine explosion!” Katniss countered with a fury she had probably learned from my rants.

            “The Capitol’s violence is intended to perpetuate itself. This violence is intended to bring an end to it,” I countered.

            “Our spies would be glad to die if our enemies go down with them” Plutarch pointed out.

            “We can’t afford to wait around any longer trying to starve them out,” I said, repeating the words of various superiors. Plutarch nodded approvingly. The occupants of The Nut were very prepared for that possibility, and it would give the Capitol time to build up its own defenses and maybe even counterstrike somewhere. “Those of us from The Seam know that cruel fate too.” _If I was alone with her, I probably would have said something with a sarcastic ‘Catnip’ or two._

            “It needs to be done to win this war. Anyway, here the trapped wouldn’t burn up and would be able to make it to the ‘elevator’ that is the access railroad.” _That tunnel surfaced in the middle of one of the nearby villages, and that spot was one of the most heavily guarded parts of the blockade._ “If they choose to surrender.”

 

            “It’s a go,” Plutarch said, either giving an order or passing one along from back at headquarters. Lyme held the field command, but not control over such high-level decisions. Some of Plutarch’s agents had calculated the best spots to actually drop the bombs.

            I could work a crowd, that much was known, so I addressed the aircrews. I saw a couple familiar faces. “I ain’t straight, but I’m ready to do my part to make sure my craft flies straight,” Anna Flowers declared. Many of us laughed, Madge the loudest.

 

            Lyme stationed Victor Squad, including herself, right at the exit of the train tracks. From that vantage point, the bombs hitting their targets gave off little puffs of white dust, yet it soon became the cascade I intended it to be, flowing into the massive shafts that were the air vents. In but a few minutes, we heard the rumblings of a train car. Then we heard another all too familiar noise. “Some surrender!” were Emerald’s last words as anonymous bullets shredded what had once been a pretty face. I aimed a retaliatory volley accordingly. I felt some apparently slam into my armor; on rage and adrenaline, I simply focused on spraying more out.

 

            Several of my squadmates lay on the ground, although the woman and two men of District Two stood tall. Wiress, Hook and Regina looked particularly wounded. I knew what Katniss looked like when she dodged for cover and she had taught Finnick the gesture. Sapphire surged into the gap as Gloss and Cashmere laid down cover fire to each side of her. _Had somebody given her a gun?_ No, she was determined to get blood on _Amazon_ , and that she did. The hilt turned from pink to red. The bayonet charge took by surprise soldiers expecting more gunfire, a note topping the unrelenting chaos. The bursts became more sporadic as we closed in on the remaining train cars, actual surrenders. Disaffected base staff helped overpower the few remaining Peacekeepers.

 

            “To Hawthorne’s nutcracker!” Plutarch cheered with the bodies still warm. When the smoke cleared, Bass, Flavia, Hercules, Ruby, Octavian, Jet, Star, Windmill, and Maria were chief amongst the Capitol’s fallen useful idiots. Now it was time for that city to fall and its masterminds to pay the price.

 


	11. Squadrons Passing By

            Three of my squadmates had been wounded in the aftermath of what people now called the Nutcracker Action. Hook had quickly succumbed to his wounds. Wiress and Regina survived, and they would be healed as fast as District Thirteen medical technology could manage. The doctors would also rush to repair Johanna’s lingering arm injury from the District Twelve evacuation. It was out of Ingrid and Prim’s hands, although they likely could have handled those bullet wounds had the rebel battle plan allotted more time. It was mid-November, and we intended to land soldiers in the Capitol and return them safely to a free Panem by the time the year was out.

 

            Chrome had done wonderful work for the resistance in District One and was now taking a more straightforward role in the rebellion. Sapphire had become an honorary member of our unit with that charge through the train station. She had done wonderful work with just a sword, although Gloss and Cashmere had cleared the way with modern weapons. Once given a rifle, the Capitol would have even more to fear from this one of their victims, especially if Cato’s weaponry upgrade was any indication.

            However, both of them retained their affection for the anachronistic weapons. “Duel?” Cato challenged. “I’ve taken very well to the rifle, but I do want to get my sword back out again, and I’m not afraid of you.”

            “Nor I of you,” Sapphire answered. “Challenge accepted.”

 

            It not being a fight to the death, I honestly saw no problem with it. It could even be a public spectacle, but we refrained from making it one. Some might not see the distinction between this and the Games. Also, the District Two battle was a deadly serious military expedition, not a propaganda broadcast with the cameras rolling. If Sapphire, or Cato for that matter, were to make such a move later in the war, we wanted to retain the element of surprise. “Next time I fight people for real, I don’t want them to know what I can do,” Sapphire explained.

           

            The Capitol knew what we could do in games, but not a real war. I hadn’t exactly wanted that war, but our persecutors’ long train of abuses and usurpations had made it the only option. They had started the depredations that wouldn't stop until we made them stop.

 

            As it came time for Sapphire and Cato’s planned sword fight, we needed the game of One and Two as a respite from the real war and its oncoming final stage. Cato retrieved his arena sword while Sapphire cleaned _Amazon_. It turns out their weapons were exactly the same in substance. For Sapphire’s sake, United Steel had simply fixed their standard longsword blade to a different hilt.

 

            The audience would be a few rebel soldiers such as myself. They were fighting with live steel, but in full armor, and plating that could absorb 6.59x42 slugs ought to be able to handle sword blades. The first touch of blade on armor would end it since that would be a victory is a real unarmed duel as well. They were both prepared to yield, or, more accurately, loudly talking about how their opponent would be doing so.

 

            They both swung viciously. The problem with putting so much in the attack was leaving oneself vulnerable to a counterstrike. It seemed Sapphire had been exposed to that as she failed to parry quickly enough, but Cato’s blade bounced harmlessly off his opponent’s curved hilt. High-pitched echoes cascades through the hall for another few minutes, but we eventually heard the thud of _Amazon_ against the plating topping Cato’s left shoulder.

 

            Victor Squad didn’t need quite the drilling that the raw recruits did. The resistance certainly had a better use for me – combining my trapper’s mind with Beetee’s technological wizardry to produce devices that would give us a final edge. It was work I was born and raised for, but even given the gravity of the situation, I found the security checks at the District Thirteen labs ridiculous.

 

            We kept that approach concealed until the very end. Similarly, Plutarch was only now informing me and my fellow victor soldiers of a key part of our mission. “Some of the Capitol’s defenses are akin to arena traps. Who better to navigate that than those who have survived arenas?”

            “The hubris, to think victors would be blinded by riches and glory to the bastards who had put them in that situation,” I ranted.

            “That,” Plutarch admitted. “It’s what they understand. It’s what the Gamemakers did the rest of the year. I would know. I had to set some of them up to maintain my cover.” He showed us schematics and said we’d be carrying a portable version into the field. Looking at the diagrams, it was clear this was one of the biggest intelligence coups of the war, and I marveled again at Gamemakers’ skilled yet twisted minds.

 

            Beetee and I remained diligent in developing ingenious weapons of our own. He successfully tested my idea for a double-explosion bomb. “Drop this on enemy infantry, the reserves march into the rubble wrongfully thinking the threat is gone,” I suggested. For another idea, I wanted a hotter than usual fire, and Beetee taught me that certain light metals quickly reacted with simple air or water. “A fire that water will make worse?” I realized.

            “Exactly,” Beetee answered. “Hopefully, Peacekeepers won’t figure out what you just did. “They don’t exactly produce chemists over in District Two.” We had so little to be proud of in the districts but intellectualism must be a point of pride in District Three. It’s not surprising that sometimes manifested itself in sarcasm about other districts. It was primarily directed at the Capitol, but old habits die hard.

 

            Although we were known as Victor Squad, District Thirteen military command called my unit Squad 451. They really meant to have 450 other such units for the climactic battle. We were the very tip of the arrow to be shot at the Capitol. The Peacekeeper defectors would anchor the vanguard, the rest of the arrowhead. Two companies, 20 squads, would be similarly close to the front lines. A full brigade, 300 squads with support and specialist personnel, formed the main line. A regiment was assigned to the rear, a hundred squads of our greener personnel, and we certainly had plenty of those. All told, we’d have well over six thousand infantry right in the Capitol, plus the air forces and support staff.

 

            Gloss and Cashmere’s younger brother Shine could well have been in next year’s Games, but like Lustre, he had volunteered to fight against the system he had once planned to volunteer for. The youngest Goldman and Shinesmith were both assigned to Squad 402, placing them near as close to the front lines as us.

 

            The District Twelve Peacekeepers would be reinforced up to 30 full squads, their original battalion strength. Many of their reinforcements were people who had once been their civilian charges, notably Jack Barton, now of Squad 422. A few people from other districts stepped into those ranks, especially Rock Clayton and Raspberry Mackey of 424. Fewer still were Peacekeeper defectors from elsewhere in the force. However, my Hob acquaintances weren’t the only ones to cross the lines. “Welcome, Soldier Schumann,” said Lieutenant Artemis. He had evaded the District Eleven border fence to turn himself in to District Ten rebels.

            “May our former comrades be welcomed to the grave,” he said to angrily return the greeting. “When the riots broke out, I could not bring myself to actually shoot at our own people like we had been trained to. Thousands of others pulled those triggers as if it was a simulator, and the dust of my posted district was kept down with sprays of blood.”

            Supposedly Clove’s brother Lieutenant Alexander Hawkins saw the truth just as clearly, but he remained undercover with a force that had evacuated District Two VIP’s to the Capitol. The mayor’s son and daughter were Career trainees. “Insanity,” Mayor Undersee muttered, and his daughter agreed.

 

            We had many reaping-eligible kids armed. Capitol propaganda said our enlistment age showed we were barbarians compared to how they took ‘only’ 24 a year. They were the truly primitive minds despite their fancy technology, as I and other rebel propagandists were glad to remind them. Snow’s broadcasts also said it was a sign of our desperation. They were the ones in a truly dire situation, but not letting that on to their people.

 

            The Capitol didn’t enlist those our age, holding to the twisted hope that there would be more reapings. While there would be volunteers, the protocol was to pretend there might not be. Besides, the younger ones might not be ideologically reliable, especially with indoctrination rushed along with the rest of training. They’d be facing their fellow youngsters, and many of them had seen the Games as a way out of the Peacekeepers anyway.

 

            Most Peacekeepers not only came from District Two, but enlisted right after their last Reaping. This year had been no exception. Many had been deployed, and many had died. Some early graduates, green infantry with experienced officers set over them, had even been part of the District Twelve reinforcements that we had beat to the punch. We fought that unit anyway, at a railroad crossing in District Eleven. Undoubtedly others of this year’s recruits were amongst the anonymous faces in the other districts. Some aiming for higher ranks or more complex specialties were still in training.

 

            As we had approached District Two, the Capitol evacuated the training camps near the district border, and destroyed what they couldn’t take with them, clearing space for the recruits in the Capitol itself. I wonder how much of a shock that had been the Capitolites’ insulated world.

 

            There had always been some enlistees throughout the year from various districts and even desperate or brainwashed people from the Capitol itself, but that like everything else had been amplified this year. While there had been an outpouring of rebel sentiment in the wake of August 19th, there had also been some people agitated by the Capitol’s fear of chaos.

 

            There had even been a few District Twelve recruits, and that had always made me furious, but I refrained from trying to dissuade them in case they went through with it and proceeded to report me.

 

            I remember that a townie by the name of Roadrunner Castle had once speculated about an assignment in the Peacekeeper Engineer Corps. Fortunately, he thought better of it. He ended up doing the same kind of work for the rebellion. His family was in the construction business, after all; Roadrunner was joined by his older brother Razorbill and father Russel. His mother Ruth was an architect, and all four of them were pleased to have good resources to work with instead of the crap that the Capitol budgeted for the districts.

 

            His twin sisters Raven and Robin were no good at it. “They may not know how to use a hammer, but they’re experienced at getting nailed,” Peeta’s oldest brother Pan joked. It was him I had seen with Raven, the freckled older yet shorter Castle girl back at the slag heap during the District Twelve evacuation. Since then, he had introduced his younger twin brother to her younger twin sister. They were hardly the first guys the Castle twins had put out for. The gals were known for an odd sort of egalitarianism, although their two current lovers were fellow Townies. Most Town girls ignored Seam guys, but these two gave us far more than just the time of day. I had probably kissed them sometimes; that was lost in the fog of memory for all three of us.

 

            The competent Castle constructors had all too much work to do. The Capitol had taken to bombing the surface of District Thirteen. Their hovercraft fleet had been nearly destroyed, and we held air superiority so close to our base anyway, but they still had plenty of missile launchers. Fortunately, they had the sense to not load nuclear warheads on them. However, the regular sirens came to be far more than just a drill, and the upper levels of District Thirteen were devastated. It was up to Builder units to repair the damage to essential facilities, especially with the timetable of maneuvers for our imminent attack on the Capitol.

 

            Glimmer Adams was collaborating with Peeta Mellark more and more on rebel speechwriting. I was the one with the fiery delivery, so I sat near them in a District Thirteen library as they prepared words I’d deliver. I overheard them talking excitedly. “This is beautiful!” Glimmer exclaimed.

            “This guy wrote ever so eloquently, yes,” Peeta agreed. “Although to his own time, it could be adapted to ours.”

 

            And so we had one more message with words before we went to send the Capitol a message with weapons. “We have long since passed the point in history at which it became time to break our chains and stand by ourselves. We consider it self-evident that all people are born equal with the same rights to such things as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Government should defend such rights, not destroy them, and ought be destroyed and replaced if it does. This ought not be done for light and transient reasons, those are to be suffered, but when a government fails as spectacularly as ours, it is our right, our duty, to abolish it. We have suffered through it for decades, for centuries, and finally realized we could take no more. We’re coming for you and you know why.”


	12. The Battle Of The Capitol

            With the Winter Solstice three days ago, we had only a week to deliver on Coin’s threat to defeat the Capitol by the end of the year. If it were easy, it wouldn’t have to be done. Any such great action came with great difficulties, and must be faced with great courage. We would take trains into the Capitol, for a multitude of reasons. The full Army was far too massive to deploy by hovercraft, as opposed to detachments for a particular mission in the districts. We needed all our infantry in the field, and the whole Air Force dedicated to precision bombing. Some craft were certainly being loaded with my delayed action weapons or special incendiaries in addition to or instead of straightforward explosives. Our aircrew would have enough to worry about from the Capitol air defenses without trying to land troops. Surface-to-air weapons were a major military strength of the city, and troop trains would largely bypass it.

 

            The Mellarks were busy with the last-minute distribution of ration packs; we were provisioned for at least a few days of battle.  This was the first time we had seen Ingrid in her Casualty Aide uniform; the medics would obvious go in after the infantry, so we would soon separate. “We ought to join you in a free Panem by the end of the year, but…,” I said to our families, leaving the obvious fear left unsaid, “…stay strong, Little Man.”

            “You too, Little Duck,” Katniss added.

 

            “Vanguard to the trains!” an intercom roared. A few cars would carry Victor Squad, other elements of the 1st Battalion, and the 12th Battalion. This order was to nearly a thousand men and women, with five times as many following in infantry alone.

 

            The last District Twelve people we saw were the Castle men, putting away supplies after participating in last-minute repairs of the train tracks. I must say, the Builder Detachment ensured the Capitol missile attacks would delay our timetable.

 

            Victor Squad occupied the first two rows of the front car, right behind the locomotive. Appropriately, the first fireteam had the four District One folks. Chrome commanded his daughter and oldest son. Sitting next to Katniss on the rough bench, I understood the value of comrades they had such close experience working with. Their group was rounded out by Sapphire. Brutus and Cato were the only two District two victors following Lyme into battle, and they were in the 2nd group. Finnick and Regina were with them. Wiress and Johanna were with me and Catnip.

 

            Sapphire and Cato had prevailed upon Lyme to carry their blades as sidearms, but our commander had ordered Sapphire to cover up _Amazon_ ’s hilt in camouflage tape. Admittedly, I saw the value in silent hand-to-hand weapons to complement our loud long-ranged guns, patting the handle of my knife as the thought crossed my mind.

 

            Our track ran through the ghost town of Twelve and the north of Eleven before traveling through Nine and then the outskirts of the Capitol in One. The few hovercraft screening our lightning march westward cleared the obstacles the Capitol had placed on the tracks. Losing light in the tunnels beneath the Capitol brought back bittersweet memories of the spark that had started this rebellion as Katniss and I rode in under far different circumstances.

 

            We were relatively blinded by the re-emergence in the gleaming marble of the Capitol train station. The sentries were as attentive as a commander could wish for. Cray was first off the train, now in Thirteen winter gray instead of Capitol white. I don’t know how he wasn’t hit in the hail of bullets that soon engulfed the station. The doors were in the middle of the cars. At least these elite squads maintained order in the chaos of disembarking. However, we were still impatient to join the battle. Cato busted open the window on his side and we started shooting through that one of the newly created jagged holes in the side of the train.

 

            The thirteen of us were some of the best fighters in the rebellion, to be sure. In a way, we were the most needed in the field, but rebel command also understood the importance of protecting us. The mass of Peacekeepers had thinned by the time we emerged into the open. They had put their lesser soldiers at the very front to meet our best, with disastrous results. Their experienced reserves came pouring into the station right after initial contact, but it was too late, as we had already gained our footing. We were decimated; that word came off as a disaster, yet it really meant to lose one in ten, a favorable result for this initial engagement.

 

            Most of what little remained of the first day was spent securing the later arrivals. If we had charged into the Capitol too quickly, our initial force could have been surrounded. Executing that classic military maneuver could have been a successful last ditch attempt to maintain the power of Snow’s Capitol.

 

            As it was, we slept on the floor of the station. I shot a grenadier during the third fireteam’s watch as dawn was breaking. That gunshot, one amongst many, helped bring the camp to stirring for the day. Cato had operated more silently, hiding behind a pillar and stabbing an infiltrator. Many of us posted during the night had reported assorted largely unsuccessful attempts to retake the station.

 

            We finally separated from the main force as the District Thirteen Army left the station that morning. We were the only ones in the field who knew about the arena-style traps and our mission was to safely disable them. Hidden spiked floors, razorwire nets, reservoirs of poisonous gas, tracker jacker hives – all that and more could have been disastrous to us and our fellow rebel soldiers.

 

            Capitol citizens, bathed in the most obscene comforts since the day they were born, were fleeing the chaos, those who hadn’t already been evacuated to account for the city’s final defensive preparations. I saw hordes of brightly colored people scurrying away like ants.

 

            A few of them approached us, though. I saw a Capitol boy run out shouting “I surrender!”

            I decided to humor this rich version of Vick. “Identify yourself.”

            He did. “Remus Alighieri.”

            “Well, hand over your _weapon_ ” He kept playing the game, kneeling down to present his toy sword.

            Cato joined in to joke about his lack of swordsmanship. “Don’t grip it by the edges. Pretend it’s real.”

            “You aren’t getting this back until the end of the battle,” I said, taking it and clipping it next to some real weaponry.

 

            That night, December 25th, we were holed up in an apartment slightly back from the front line. Cato said, “Can you believe it’s been four months?”

            “Yeah, since the six of us had that big wedding. But also four years since six men died in the District Twelve mines.”

            “Joy or sorrow, you’re in luck,” Brutus announced from the kitchen. “because we have alcohol.” The refrigerator had a shelf full of short bottles. The District Nine seal was prominent on the front of them. “Platte beer, quite good for how cheap it is,” he explained. _Something to wash down our canned food with._

            Lyme allowed this with “If anyone needs to take the edge off, it’s us, but no getting Haymitched.” I twisted open a ‘12 Car Lager’ bottle and took a swig. _Not bad, not bad at all._

            Cato grabbed two red ales and joked “My wife has to eat for two. I get to drink for two.” He passed a handful of creamy lagers to Finnick to emphasize the point.

            Katniss and Wiress split a Music Chip Brew. Looking over her shoulder at the bottle, I read ‘no audio equipment was harmed in the production of this beverage’.

 

            We emerged frankly refreshed by the night of Capitol luxury, but it was time to lie low yet again. We ran to a nearby shop for cover, which happened to be a jewelry store. I don’t know why the hell anyone or anything was still there, but there was. The shopkeeper immediately recognized us, which wasn’t surprising since we’re some of the most recognizable faces in the country. “I bet the new Mrs. Adams wants quite the stone.” _He wants to do business rather than report us. Fine by me._ Finnick and Johanna stayed on lookout.

            Catnip interrupted Cato’s response. “The still Ms. Everdeen thinks even a gold band is more than enough.” _Nice one._

            “In Twelve, they can’t afford to even think of such things.” _Good. You better have gotten the message by now._ “In Two, we’re ruthlessly practical – I probably would have shared titanium with a woman who’s a good genetic match rather than gold with one I loved. So I’m OK too. But yeah, my Glim wants a big ol’ rock.”

            They settled on something cut in a shape resembling an upside down pyramid. “Cato, three point six carats? That’s ridiculous.” This was a far cry from haggling over squirrel at the Hob, but I still know how the game is played: we got the thing cheap because Macmillan understood it was priceless for a victor to be seen wearing his product, and as we inched closer to victory, he recognized it was prudent to be on the new regime’s good side. Cato had barely pocketed the box when Mason barked, “Okay, this shopping trip’s over – the coast is clear.”

 

            It was as clear as it was going to get, Johanna meant. We all knew that as we made a break for it. None of us saw the shot or the shooter that felled Gloss. Chrome with a dead son and Cashmere with a dead brother raged. We zigzagged across the street, seeing more bullets, these ending in puffs of stone instead of blood. Now knowing the angle the shots were coming from, Lyme called in an airstrike, which was quickly granted. The bomb looked to be a standard high explosive.

 

            When the hovercraft had dropped its invisibility shield, I noticed a barely dressed woman painted on the nosecone. Some wiseguy back at base had probably researched that ancient military tradition, as it were. Well, I knew at least two female aircrew who wouldn’t mind.

 

            We were far into Capitol territory, but we weren’t clear on how much of the rest of the battle was going. Even if any light pierced through the fog of war, we were still on limited communications. We had learned that the rearguard has split into thirds, plowing paths through the Capitol behind us.

 

            Wiress wasn’t the most clearheaded person at even the best of times. I understood – worn down by her arena, something that hadn’t had time to sink in for us. Annie was like that too, and Finnick said she had been different even before she entered the arena. However, Mrs. Odair wasn’t on a battlefield, and Wiress was, cracking under the additional pressure. One false step of hers triggered another one of the arena-style traps. Metal darts, likely poisoned, cut through her armor. Chrome put himself in the way of the rest of the stream, shielding not only his daughter but also her nine surviving comrades.

 

            I hoped for at least Facet’s sake back home that Cashmere managed to survive this battle. The same could be said for Shine, wherever he was, if he wasn’t already lying cold on the ground too.

 

            The morning brought victory closer, but still not within our firm grasp quite yet. We didn’t even see the next Warmaker to snipe another one of our squadmates. Regina had been one of the last victors. May she be one of the last freedom fighters to fall.


	13. The Mansion Tragedy

We weren’t just near the front lines, we were the front line. That line was getting close and closer to the heart of the Capitol. No wonder the remaining Capitol sharpshooters, including Regina’s killer, were relatively thick here.

I recognized the Training Center skyscraper; thirteen floors was hardly the tallest building in the Capitol, but it still stood out compared to the shorter structures in its immediate vicinity. One of those was the President’s mansion. It had a massive footprint, but was only a couple stories tall.

Refugees were everywhere in the streets, some even pouring into Snow’s mansion. Broadcasts recycled the same tired old theme of the Capitol’s generosity and mercy. However, the message was now intended for the city’s own residents.

I suspected the real motivation was to provide human shields for Snow and other high ranking Capitol authorities. They were somewhere on the ground or below it – even if the Capitol had any hidden hovercraft left, our air force had orders to shoot them down on sight. As in District Two, carnage may be necessary now to prevent it in the future. I would not waver.

The Capitol’s fearsome air defenses weren’t so fearsome at ground level. Most of the gun and missile emplacements physically couldn’t be angled low enough to shoot at ground troops. Heavy vehicles were perhaps vulnerable to repurposed air defenses, but the rebel ground forces had focused on straightforward infantry - partially for that reason, partially because it was much more feasible to transport soldiers without such gear. We had spent much of our time disabling exotic pods to clear the way for our fellow soldiers, but we also saw some action destroying the straightforward surface to air weapons to clear the way for our aircrews.

The crowds made it both easier and harder for us to move. We could hide amongst the group, but there would also be more people to notice us. When in that Capitol apartment the night of the 25th, we didn’t only raid the beer fridge, but also the closets. This provided us with ordinary Capitol clothes, if anything in this city was ordinary, to disguise ourselves with at times. That seemed to be the apartment of a District Seven stylist, long since fled. Johanna had kicked the tree costumes a few times for good measure. About time the districts took something from the Capitol, I thought.

There were Peacekeeper squads guarding the entrances to Snow’s mansion. They were from a special unit in black and brown uniforms instead of the standard white. The long walls of windows were relatively unobstructed. Even if we could shoot through them, that would obviously create more of a disturbance.

Especially with those Peacekeepers occupied directing refugees, we might be able to avoid notice until the glass cracked. Getting the glass to crack would be the problem.

Whoever wasn’t trying to break it stood guard. The glass wouldn’t budge after several of us made several attempts. We swung our rifle butts at the windows like clubs. I slammed my shoulder into one of the panes, and the other guys followed.  
Eventually Cato realized something, getting out the box from the jeweler’s shop. He said, “Isn’t diamond the hardest thing in the world?”  
“Yeah, there’s gotta be something harder than this glass,” I muttered in agreement. If we were back at base I would have said I thought that was you when you were alone with Glimmer, and we would have laughed loudly. However, we know damn well this was not the time or place.  
He scraped the window with the stone, proof that we were right about the matter. He did this with the ring pinched between his thumb and forefinger. He could have fit it on his pinky, but then he never would have heard the end of it, assuming we survived to hear anything. I teased him anyway. “Ah, you scratched her ring.”  
“Don’t worry, as glamorous as she is, she knows when not to be vain,” Cato reminded us.  
He slammed his shoulder against the new weak point and the window finally cracked. Cato fell through the window frame. The guards finally noticed the noise and we picked them off as they came to investigate. Our rifle butts hadn’t been able to break the window, but they did work for knocking the shards out of the frame. Katniss noticed the blood on Cato’s arm and said, “You want me to patch that up?”  
“It’s okay, I only fell through one plate glass window,” he tossed off sarcastically.  
“Boys,” she muttered and Cashmere applauded. It didn’t really remind her of Gloss, since he had never really been that kind of man, despite looking the part. I was like Cato in this – if Katniss was the one at home with a taste for luxury, I could have been the one who fell onto a red carpet now getting a bit redder. What if Catnip was the one eagerly expecting a child because of the way she loved her little sister? Well, even so, now that Catnip would have me, I still didn’t want anyone else. The girl who had been by my side for years would be the woman by my side as long as we lived.

We walked Snow’s hallways, and now saw the entrance from the inside. It was unguarded, now that its guards had unsuccessfully tried to head us off. I suspected that even now there would still be patrols of the key rooms. “We shall go find them,” Lyme ordered, “before an escape or some other last ditch maneuver, before they conceal more evidence of the crimes they’ve committed against this country and its people.”

Taking another look at the nearby entrance, I noticed several silver parachutes falling right outside it. Even little children know what sponsor gifts look like, and began to react accordingly. However, I saw that their payload was anything but. Firebombs I had designed with Beetee exploded over Snow’s human shields. 

I had thought of the bombs, but not the sick twist of the parachutes by which they were deployed. Coin was almost certainly directly behind this, which demonstrated thinking as depraved as the Capitol. I did what needed to be done, and had tolerated her before on that account, but this seemed wholly unnecessary. When I gave Beetee the idea for these bombs and he implemented it, we certainly hadn’t thought of them being used against such targets, whatever the packaging.

Our upward sight blocked by the ceiling, I had no clue as to what hovercraft dropped it.

I saw a squad of rebel medics racing to the scene, noticed their unit number and frantically reached for the radio on my hip. “Soldier Hawthorne of 451 to CA42! Those bombs have a delayed second action! Evacuate!”  
“Sarah Morgan confirming, let’s get out of here!” The voice retained most of its discipline even in this chaos, and that voice continued with chilling words. “Everdeen, get back!” I glanced behind me and to the left. She’s right here. Wait, what the??? The double blonde braid and shirttail was unmistakable - it was Prim up there in the line of fire. Even at a distance, she caught much of the second burst of flame. Coin will have hell to pay and worse yet have to deal with Katniss. After our Games, which seemed like ages ago now, Katniss said that I didn’t need to be forgiven for the Capitol’s crimes. I hope I didn’t need to be forgiven for Coin’s crimes either.

Katniss sprinted down the hallway to the scene, mainly an act of worry but also a practical one – Prim’s squadmates needed all the burn medicine they could get, and non-medics carried basic first-aid kits. I threw mine, and Katniss made a running one-handed catch. My squadmates sent theirs forward as well. 

Only Finnick and Johanna remained in our immediate vicinity. Lyme had taken Cashmere, Sapphire, Brutus and Cato with her to start checking the rest of the mansion. That left me as the current office of sorts. “Crouch down and be ready to provide guard fire,” I barked.

The aftermath of the bombing coalesced into a grim portrait. In the foreground, Sarah leaned over Prim while Katniss rushed to her side. Some other medics were also tending to their fellows; one searched for the slim chance of survivors amongst the Capitol children.

Lyme led all four of her soldiers back, some dragging bodies that by their uniforms had clearly belonged to Snow’s highest ranking officers. They had fought it out, if but with sidearm pistols, knowing death was their likely fate anyway. Cato and Brutus had the real prize, though, a certain man who wouldn’t have been armed at all. We overheard our commander’s report to headquarters. “President Coin, this is Commander Lyme. We have captured Snow alive.” Alma was still the boss, as much as we abhorred it, until the bombing was sorted out.  
Lyme passed along the response. “We are to execute him promptly.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prim being wounded rather than killed in the bombing was one of the first scenes I wrote over a year ago, but I didn’t get to that point in the story until now.


	14. The Execution Of Coriolanus Snow

I had thought killing Snow was a wild dream suited only for being shouted in the woods. Snow would be shot by the surviving members of our squad, so now I would be amongst the eight men and women making that dream a reality, along with my dear Catnip.

 

The deaths in the arenas weren’t illegal, nor were executing traitors or killing enemies on the battlefield, not to mention all those who died indirectly as a result of the Capitol’s policies. It was all so avoidable, which is why we wanted to see Snow join the corpses. Yet the lawyers insisted we couldn’t officially blame him for enforcing his own laws. However, he could still be held to account for repeatedly and indiscriminately ordering Peacekeepers to open fire on civilians in the districts. That was murder even to the legal nitpickers.

Yet we knew that all the corpses, whatever the attorneys said about them, were the terrible price of this war freshly won.

 

Cato knew something of Clove’s mother Ivy. She had lived a life very typical of District Two women. She had, in her mid-twenties, married an ex-Peacekeeper and seen their son grow up to join the next generation of Peacekeepers. Their family had been the very archetype of District Two’s Capitol loyalists until it all came crashing down on them August 11th.

 

We had come to the Capitol on a deadly serious military mission with the appropriate secrecy. With that mission completed, in came a District Thirteen media team. It was right out of Snow’s playbook, and that of many leaders before him, to make justice so public. We were resolved to not repeat the mistakes of the past, especially after having caught Coin doing so. I wondered how soon that sentiment would dissipate. Certainly not this soon. I felt what we were demonstrating justice for made plenty of difference.

 

It was a bit of a misnomer to say the camera crew was from District Thirteen. All four had the Capitol look about them. I didn’t recognize them from my work on rebel propaganda. The director introduced herself as Cressida, her shiny shaved head and green tattoos providing a vivid contrast with our gray field uniforms. She pointed to one of the others and said he was her assistant, a man named Messalla. I’m not sure if he was particularly flamboyant or if his earrings and tongue piercing were just par for the course for the Capitol. The cameramen were encased in suits with their equipment attached; I supposed that was to keep their hands free and help them move around to cover the news. They had taken off some of their gear and opened some visors, this being a relatively stationary new story. They must be big men to move with that stuff, and they were. With similar wild red hair and blue eyes, they were likely brothers. One gave his name as Castor.

 

Yet the other one did not speak at all. I knew without being told that he was an Avox, tongue cut out and enslaved for some ‘crime’ against the Capitol. _That could very well have been mine or Katniss’ fate, or our fathers’, not to mention any of our Hob friends._ No wonder the cameramen were rebels, but what about the directors? “The Capitol School Of Technical Arts taught us to use the media for the greater good,” Cressida began to explain. “However, as certain people stood ready to sacrifice themselves to the arena to save their siblings or lovers,” she said while looking at me, Catnip and Cato, “I developed a different definition of what that ‘greater good’ was,” she finished.

“Thank you. It’s going around,” I answered.

 

Alexander, the current Peacekeeper Hawkins, had remained with the District Two mayor after evacuating him to the Capitol, all the while scheming how to turn him over to rebel custody. He did so as soon as news of Snow’s capture spread. “Him too?” he asked of Lyme while manhandling Mayor Patrick Lazare I. Like Snow, he had been sentenced to death in absentia. Miranda McGraw, the captured District Ten mayor, had testified against them, repentance calculated to keep her own corpulent body away from a firing squad. Our own Miles Undersee had been cooperative to begin with and for the right reasons, but being mayor of a small outlying district, he hadn’t been exposed to as much evidence.

“No, take him back home and carry out his sentence there,” Lyme ordered, and Alexander dragged Patrick away, probably towards a transport of some sort.

 

Patrick’s family had still been with him at the time. His wife Emma was resigned to this being his fate as part of a successful rebellion. Patrick Lazare II turned towards Cato. “I guess you’re not going into the arena next year after all,” Cato told him. Evidently he had dreamed of being a Victor too, and they knew each other from the District Two training academy.

“Or my sister three years from now. Maybe our lives were two of those you saved,” the younger Patrick admitted.

 

Relatives of a murderer’s victims often watched the execution together. I don’t think any particular group of them had been brought together for this occasion, but we knew many pairs of eyes that would be watching particularly closely. Ivy Hawkins and Willow Clayton, with children so different, were now in the same situation, and they knew it. Somewhere there would an empty seat for Electra McLeod – she had committed suicide at the death of her daughter Marissa who we had known as Foxface.

 

I relished the opportunity to berate Snow to his face. “I’m already living one of my dreams as the husband of this wonderful creature,” I said gesturing towards Katniss. “You nearly took her from me, and I already hated you. I’ve dreamed about _this_ for a long time; I’d like to savor the moment and kill you twice. You know why there are no little Gales or Katnisses running around? Because she couldn’t bear to see them face the reaping, and she’s hardly alone in that sentiment. You’ve thrown the worst fear that can ever be hurled, fear to bring children into the world. Now we’ll hurl something at you.”

 

            We tied him to a post in his garden. Once we were lined up, our camera crew went live. For this, we’d each load one cartridge directly into the chamber rather than using magazines. This was done in sequence rather than in unison so we’d each have time to make a short comment.

            I happened to be on the left of the line, so I went first. “I have a feeling that the December 69 mine explosion was a setup. For Thomas Hawthorne.” The chamber closed with a very satisfying click. Katniss likewise dedicated her bullet to Jacob Everdeen, and also Rue Clayton of course.

            Cashmere named her brother, father and their other fellow District One victors butchered. Sapphire also paid special attention to her district’s fallen. Cashmere and Brutus both spoke for the mentorees they had watched die.

            Finnick spat, “For Hook, Lotus and even threatening Annie.”

            Johanna piled on, meeting Snow with a rejoinder of “For actually carrying out that threat against the other Masons, you whoremonger.”

            Cato said, “This is the last time I’ll enjoy killing someone. For Julius Adams and Clove Hawkins.”

            Lyme hadn’t mentored much, so she was relatively shielded from that burden of being a victor. However, she still knew many of the victims all too well. She closed out simply with, “Any last words, tyrant?”

            “You won’t like Coin any better,” Snow spat back.

            “Whatever you say, Mr. President. We’ve already figured that out anyway. Fire.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Foxface being named Marissa McLeod, with her mother Electra committing suicide after her death, comes from Beauty From The Ashes, an amazing fic by Don’t Call Me Sparkles.


	15. Return Flight

            We were expert marksmen and markswomen firing at point-blank range, so the eight holes in Snow’s shirt were nearly indistinguishable. As expected by any remotely plausible common sense, Finnick found no pulse, announcing “He’s dead, Jo”.

            “About time,” she answered, and we all agreed.

 

            Cressida had a request to pass along to Lyme to mark the occasion. “Maybe we should save the bullets?” I overheard.

            “Spent cartridge cases, you mean,” Lyme crisply answered. I had a feeling this would be far from our first postwar encounter with technically clueless civilians.

            Cressida dug out a clear box, probably intended as a display case for trinkets of some sort. “Clear your chambers into that,” Lyme ordered, extracting hers first. It bounced against the sides of the box with a high-pitched ring. The rest of us filed past to unload in the same order we’d loaded in, filling the box with objects that had become very familiar – cylinders with one closed end, a dent in the center from where the firing pin had struck the primer, and a slightly ragged open end blackened with powder dust. That brass was extremely well-policed, yet no different from millions of its fellows lying all over the country.

 

            While waiting for my surviving comrades to regroup, I triumphantly lifted my rifle into the air. This was right in the line of sight of one of the cameramen – I didn’t notice which one, but I did notice that the image he captured seemed particularly well-suited to the moment. I had my finger off the trigger. We’d heard reports of lesser soldiers blowing off ammunition, but a bullet fired in a seemingly harmless direction had to land somewhere or in someone. Actual skirmishes with Peacekeeper units remaining in the city had quickly calmed down.

 

            There were some units hunkered down elsewhere in the country, near the edges of the district borders or even beyond them. That would account for exactly this contingency, the ‘fall’ of the Capitol itself. Such would be our next battle, but right now, we needed to focus on cleaning up the aftermath of this one.

 

            Medics and wounded of whatever variety were gathering in the Capitol’s hospitals. We found out that Casualty Aide 42, Prim’s unit, was in Building A of the Capitol Medical Academy’s on-campus facility. So we knew where we were headed. The sight of the hero soldiers moving through the streets inspired the rank-and-file still about.  Not only could our media crew keep up, they lead the way. They’d obviously know their own city well, and Messalla recalled documenting graduation ceremonies and other big events there.

 

            Casualty Aide 7 was assigned to the same ward. So Ingrid was here with her badly wounded youngest daughter. It was not a pretty sight. The back of Prim’s shirt was in tatters, Little Duck’s ducktail gone. The skin underneath it looked dry and especially pale, and the girl’s braids were incinerated. “Catnip?” she squeaked out upon recognizing her big sister. _I don’t think she intended to use the nickname, but she said ‘Katniss’ so softly it sounded like that, much like what had happened in the woods four years ago._ “You really got Snow?”

            “Sure did, Little Duck,” Katniss said, glad to inject some positivity into these macabre proceedings.

            “No more Games?” Prim realized.

            “No more Games,” Katniss answered, and much of the ward erupted in cheers.

 

            Her mother was joined by her commanding officer Sarah Morgan at the bedside. “Soldier Hawthorne, thank you for keeping that bombing from becoming even worse,” Lieutenant Morgan said.

            “I knew what to do because they were rebel weapons,” I explained. _That I helped create only to find misused – I knew that nuance wouldn’t go over well right now._ “They should have been pointed at the enemy. I couldn’t abide the murder of civilians - after all, it’s the same thing I just helped execute Snow for. Or military personnel that are my wife’s sister and my brother’s girlfriend.”

            “What the hell was Coin thinking?” Sarah wondered, a question on everyone’s minds.

            “I don’t know, but _we will find out_. Is the little angel as bad as she looks?” I responded.

            “She’ll make it,” Sarah assessed. “Her momma’s a helluva burn medic, I suppose she’d have to be with those infernal mines in your district.”

            “You got that right,” I said flatly.

            “Even I couldn’t do it with the equipment or lack thereof back home,” Ingrid said, speaking up for the first time. “The sterile rooms and array of medicines and dressings here is amazing. I’m mad that they denied that to the districts, but right now I have to focus on fixing up my little girl.”

 

            “How’d Prim get out here?” I asked Sarah.

            “She was eager to do something. I knew she was young, but her file gave a birthdate of May 17th 60.”

            “It’s actually May 17th 62” I pointed out.

            “I obviously wouldn’t have known. We went ahead, it was too late to turn back, and she proved as fearless and skilled as anyone else in my squad. We were with the vanguard, and Glimmer’s sister is another helluva young soldier.”

            “Miss Shinesmith made it?” I said hopefully.

            “Yeah. Raspberry Mackey, Rock Clayton and Shine Goldman also survived,” she answered. “I understand that those families have suffered more than enough.”

            “Like most in this country in their own ways,” I solemnly agreed.

 

            After another shot of morphling, Prim stopped writhing long enough to speak clearly. “Maybe Coin was trying to blame it on Snow. Although pretty much everybody knew how bad he was, maybe she thought it would’ve finished the war quicker.”

            “It was pretty much over anyway, Little Duck,” Katniss responded.

            “She was trying to replace Snow, rather than free us from him. She was trying to kill people who were too smart to let her get away with that, and those Capitol kids were in the way – poor babies, they’re not so rich now.”

 

            The cameras got all of it. Nothing could be better testimony against Coin.

 

            Rebel forces, with the aid of compliant Capitolites, kept finding more wounded. By now, even the expansive Capitol medical facilities were getting overloaded. Only Thirteen and some of the Career districts had comparable infrastructure. Prim was deemed stabilized enough to move, “though we still need to clear out some of the burned skin and arrange grafts,” as Sarah Morgan put it.

 

            Sarah Morgan was from District Eight, so she didn’t have much of a home to return to. There was a lot of rebuilding to do all over Panem, but we weren’t sure about how to recover from the District Eight devastation. Yet by sacrificing himself to cover our retreat, Alexander Weaver had kept that devastation from being even worse.

 

            Casualty Aide 7 and Casualty Aide 42 would be assigned to the same hovercraft as 451 for the flight back to District Thirteen. The hospital grounds had a small airport precisely for moving certain patients in and out quickly.

 

            Ingrid looked at Catnip and I to tell us “You two working together can do so much and survive anything.”

            She had summed it up. “Don’t we know it,” I replied.

            She then turned to Cato. “Soldier Adams, your arm looks pretty beat up,” she said. His scrapes, however severe, had escaped notice with the bombing and other chaos.

            Katniss interrupted to say, “Mother, I already tried that.”

 

            It would be somewhat complicated to unload Prim and the other wounded, so Cato and Finnick would be the first off the transport. As expected, Glimmer and Annie provided some of the loudest cheers. Cato literally swept Glim off her feet, appropriate for the strong man in the horny young couple. Finnick and Annie almost sounded like two kids in their joy. I suppose we still were just kids, even in our late teens and early twenties and with all the shit we’ve been through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this story comes to an end. I have ideas for a sequel, but I won’t start it until I finish some of my other stories.


End file.
